Acceptance (Jake)

Subject: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:55 pm

The flowery tea shop hadn't changed one bit, Kit reflected as he entered through the beaded and chiming curtains of Madam Puddyfoot's. The same ink and white checkered tablecloths adorned each wicker table and the chairs were those dainty white kinds that looked like they would crumble under a man of Kit's stature. But alas, experience had told him they wouldn't so the American photographer sighed and resigned himself to one of the more out of the way tables in the corner. He could have been at the Hog's Head gettng a proper drink but a bet was a bet, and he had lost it too many years ago. Why did he still honour it when the person who had punished him with it was long gone, Kit couldn't say.

Maybe that was just the kind of person he was, the kind of person who honoured a bet even when no one was looking.

"Our special milkberry milky way milk tea?" a sweet looking waitress appeared by his table, her notepad and quill in hand. She must have been bored sick, he noted. The only other clientele providing eye candy in the whole establishment was a couple far too in love to notice their surroundings and a man typing away furiously at his laptop, a writer in a coffee high making magic, Kit would say if he had to guess.

"Do you have something stronger?"

"Coffee?" the waitress answered with anther question, the staple of service people worldwide.

"Thank you, black, strongest stuff you have."

The waitress raised an eyebrow at him before turning away. Kit wasn't sure but her mumbling sounded very much like "crazy Americans" as she made her way back to the counter. The photographer hid a grin. If only she knew.

Ordering his drink however would likely be the only amusing experience of the trip. his class over with at Hogwarts, Kit was now awaiting a rather anxious visitor. The paternity tests had returned and to no one's surprise, Jake Newbury's claims were verified. He was indeed Mimosa Harrington's biological father. Now came the more difficult part, determining if the young man was up to the task.

And today, one way or the other, they would both find out.

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Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:55 pm

Jumping through the necessary hoops to prove to Kit Harrington that he was Mimosa's father had been something of a long process. It was not the DNA swab -- Jake had had to do this before when he was going through all his Quidditch tests, and once again when he'd qualified as an Auror -- that made it a long process, but the simple fact Jake had to wait so long for everything to move in to place, and it would be even longer before Kit spoke to Mimosa.

As if they did not already know the truth.

The invite to Hogsmeade after the school day had been one Jake couldn't -- and wouldn't -- ignore. After asking his mom to look after the kids just a little bit longer (not that Alexis minded), Jake had made his way down to the small village and in to the coffee shop that Kit had suggested.

Well... tea shop, as it preferred to be known.

Jake hadn't really gotten to know the small village, but that was not what today was about. Entering the small shop, the American quickly located Kit Harrington. Ordering a simple cup of English Breakfast tea, Jake moved across the shop and took the seat opposite the older man.

"Mr Harrington," Jake greeted the man, giving him a small smile. Compared to their last meeting, Jake's emotions were in check, he did not have the aura of a desperate man about him any longer. A calmness seemed to have taken over the Auror, even if he was unsure of the situation heading his way. "I trust you're well?" Jake asked, not wanting to launch in with the question he wanted answers to more.

When will I get to see my daughter, in that capacity and not her professor?

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:56 pm

Thank Merlin the boy wasn't late, Kit reflected as Jake Newbury entered the establishment. To his credit, the young man barely raised an eye at the unusual settings which suited the American Photographer just fine. The less they acknowledged that they were siting in a twelve year old girl's fantasy barbie shop, the better.

"Well might be stretching it but I'll live," the man answered, not really in the mood for pleasantries but Clara had sent him with strict orders to be nice. And like it or not, Kit had found himself once again allied to this man through someone they both loved deeply. The conversation about to ensue would be serious and required them to not be complete hostile to each other.

So in the interest of not being hostile, the man reached for his satchel, withdrawing a large tin of Famous Amos cookies from its magically deceptive depths. "A gift from Clara, for your kiddos she says."

For it had been Clara who had done a large part of the research on what Jake Newbury had been up to in the ten years he had been out of heir lives. She with her amazing gifts and dubious contacts had tracked down the end of his Quidditch career, his past girlfriends, his move to the UK, the disintegration of his marriage. Clara had even dug up info on his sister, little Victoria was a lawyer now and judging by where she worked, a bloody good one at that.

"She says kids are hyper anyway, cookies wont do them any harm." As he spoke, he pulled another item from his bag, a brown manila envelope which too was placed beside the tin of cookies. It didn't need saying that this was the result of the paternity test.

"As you said, it's positive," Kit finally acknowledged.

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Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:56 pm

The short answer from Kit was one the younger man simply replied to with a short nod of his head in response. There was nothing to add, and the shortness indicated to Jake that the man before him was not in the mood for small talk. So Jake simply waited.

The presentation of cookies -- under the premise that they were from Clara for the kids -- was something that Jake accepted. "Thank you, and please send my thanks to Clara, too." Jake replied to the gift, not moving it from between the two of them. It told Jake that they'd had a look in to him, but he didn't mind. There was nothing that he had to hide. His life was far from perfect, but he was not ashamed of anything he'd done.

"I have, luckily, found that comparatively my children are less susceptible to the hyperness many parents face. I'm not saying they don't have their moments, but they don't seem as intolerant to sugar as everyone else's children are." Jake mused, letting Kit have something of an insight in to his two other children. Whether Kit would care was another matter, though.

The production of the brown envelope, confirming what Jake already knew, together with Kit's confirmation.

"So... where do we go from here?" Jake asked as the waitress arrived with their drinks, depositing them with a curious look between the two of them at the setting. Jake thanked her softly for the drink and his attention moved back to Kit.

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:56 pm

Kit had no way to confirm if the young Aurar was telling the truth about his children or not. He knew all about the pressures of appearing to be the perfect parent, he had a brief stint of it after adapting Azalea and reading the one thousand and one magazines, op eds and hearing urban legends about good parenting before rejecting the whole idea and moving to California to live in relieve calm.

Parenting wasn't easy, but the thousand voices chiming in your head on how it could be wasn't helpful either. He idly wondered if Jake knew that or was still in the process of figuring it out.

"Now I suppose we try to figure out if Mimosa would like another parent figure in her life," Kit answered after they had been served their drinks. He noted that his coffee, while black, had been served with a mountain of creamers on the side, as if the waitress couldn't believe someone would consume a hot beverage without milk in it.

"And after some discussion, Clara and I have decided that you should make the decision of how and if to tell her. You say you care about the kid and want what's in her best interest. So you tell me. You see her almost every day, you know how energetic and happy she is. What do you think would be the best for her?"

Because in the end, this was all about Mimosa. And as long as Kit kept his sights on that, he could go through any number of awkward and painful meetings.

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Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:56 pm

What Jake had been expecting, in complete honesty, was to hear Kit Harrington lay down the rules of how things were going to be. When he could speak to Mimosa, what Mimosa would be told, how she would be told and where she was going to be told. Kit had made it quite clear that he was not to make contact with Mimosa outside what was considered appropriate for a professor, and Jake had followed those rules in fear of being denied access to his daughter.

Victoria had insisted that Kit could not do such things, but Jake had come to see it from Kit's perspective enough to know that Victoria meant well but didn't quite understand.

So to say he was shocked when Kit asked him how he would like to go about this, how he wished to tell Mimosa, and when, Jake couldn't help but feel like he was being tested. Tested to see if he could answer with a level head, he supposed.

"Whilst you're right in saying I see Mimosa most days, I would not presume to know enough about her to be able to say what is the best way forward. She is as much of a stranger to me as I am to her." Jake pointed out, but he wasn't finished. "I have noticed, however, that she has a knack for flying. She has a high spec broom - a gift from you? - that she's very good upon. And, of course, she made the Quidditch team as a reserve..."

Jake paused, considering for a moment, still trying to think on the spot and wondering whether he would be right in the next option he presented.

"As you know Mimosa better, I would ask that you consider my proposal and let me know if she might enjoy it." Jake continued, drawing his lip between his teeth nervously. Being put on the spot like this was not fun. "Perhaps I could arrange to meet her on the Quidditch Pitch, as a tutor to her Quidditch position. I'll gauge the right time to discuss the fact I'm her father whilst we're playing... in some manner... and perhaps by the time we're done she'll know who I am. And I can leave it at the point that she thinks it over and if she wants to meet to practice, or talk... we can go from there?"

It ended as a question. Jake didn't know how to do this. He didn't know what the right way to explain this would be. And, loathe as he might be to admit it, Jake needed the older man's advice.

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:57 pm

The older wizard would have smirked if the situation hadn't been as serious as it currently was. Watching Jake flap about trying to work out an answer would have been amusing on any day. Sadly, today was not just any day. And to the boy's credit, at least he was trying to be honest.

"A good start - I've come to realize - is always acknowledging the problem. in this case, the problem is that you don't know our little girl well enough," Kit finally spoke when Jake was done. Punctuating his words with a sip of dark coffee, it felt the life slowly crawling back into him. Tea was one of the many things he had gladly given up since moving to America.

"So the answer is naturally to get to know the child better. how you do it, i leave up to you with the trust that you will keep her safety in mind at all times." Whether it be in the classroom, the Quiddith pitch, the herbology gardens or wherever Jake chose to interact with the young witch, it's only requirement was that she be kept safe, both physically and emotionally.

"Mimosa is a very unique little girl," he continued, putting down his coffee mug and looking straight across the table to Jake. "In more ways than one. At the start of term, I submitted a file with her medical details with your Runes professor. Andrew something. I'd advice you look it up, it has been updated since." On Clara's insistence, the file now not only included her history of OI but also her latest results from the Californian Institute of Learning Disorders in Los Angeles.

"And then there is the matter of her extended family," he continued, dark eyes trained on the young man to scrutinize how was taking all this. "How much have you heard of the Clements of France?"

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Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:57 pm

The point of the problem being that Jake did not know his eldest daughter was one he took with the slightest of grimaces. It was not, in his mind, his fault that he had missed out on the first ten years of Mimosa's life, but he knew that he had a long way to go. So, the young man nodded. In his own head, Quidditch would be a way of breaking down the barrier. They could enjoy that much together, and build from there.

Though, Jake had to admit Quidditch would be something of a comfort blanket for himself.

The point on safety made Jake smile across the table. "You can rest assured that safety and children is never something I would compromise, sir. Mimosa will not come to any harm whilst with me." He promised. It would go without saying that there would be minor accidents, a scuffed knee, or minor bangs, but Jake would not allow serious harm to come to Mimosa, or any of his children.

A file was then noted, and Jake took that information on board. "I will look it out when I go back to the school." Jake assured the man. And he would.

The matter of the extended family made Jake look across the top of his mug. Considering the man before him before his lips broke in to a smile. A disbelieving smile. "The royalty in France? I taught their eldest son, and I'm teaching their daughter." Jake commented. "I don't see how they're relevant, though..."

They had never been relevant with Azalea, how in Merlin's name could they be relevant now?

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:57 pm

It was a small Mercy that Jake knew enough of the Clements, even if it annoyed Kit to hear them spoken of in such high regard. They really were no different than anyone else since Kit was certain the pompous Lord Clement put his pants on one leg at a time too. Still, the focus here was Mimosa, not his ongoing grief with her lineage.

"Yes, those Clements. They... are an important part of Mimosa's life. She is serving as ward to the palace of Versailles as we speak. Her appointment as their ward was signed and sealed when she was nearly five, and she refers to the Lord and Lady Clement as her grandparents. Which - for all practical purposes - they are. As a result, the child spends part of her summers in Versailles at the palace every year."

There was no point in explaining blood relation right now, in fact Kit was only divulging this much to conceal a small threat in the statement. It wasn't just Kit who would be watching to see how Jake treated Mimosa. A toe out of line and the French authorities would make his life a living nightmare.

"Except this summer," Kit concluded, now reaching for a second envelope in his bag and placing it beside the first. The table was getting rather crowded with the assortments of drinks, cookies and documents but Kit didn't knowledge it. "This summer, Mimosa will be travelling to India for work. She's scheduled to shoot an ad film in Mumbai and New Delhi but the schedule might call for a trip to Kashmir and Jammu. It's expected to take eleven weeks."

The paperwork for the deal would corroborate his account, it included everything from copies of Mimosa's passport and ticketing details to addresses of where she would be staying and how she would be travelling within the country.

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Subject: Re: Acceptance (Jake) Mon Jun 28, 2021 5:57 pm

The smile that had adorned Jake's lips when he'd first heard of the Clements being part of Mimosa's life faded as he realised Kit was being serious. In truth, Jake did not know very much about the Clements -- except they were loved in France, and had a big house per Victoria -- but the idea that his daughter was a ward -- what in Merlin's name did that mean? -- to the family made him a little wary.

"Do they know yet?" Jake asked, because, of course, if they were a part of Mimosa's life and he was about to join in to that much, it meant he was going to come in to contact with the family Victoria had been in awe with over Christmas...

"Eleven weeks..." Jake echoed, taking the second envelope and putting it atop the first. The information could be perused later, he was sure. "The job was Mimosa's idea, right?" Jake asked, because perhaps he could reach out to the young witch on this point. Find out what made her go in to modelling, or why she enjoyed it...

Right now, though, there was lots of information being presented to him, and Jake was doing well to keep his head afloat.

The main question, though, one Jake knew only one person could truly answer, but one that was bothering him the most in the whole lot. It was the only one Jake was concerned with, because the rest would come with time.

"How do you think Mimosa will take all of this..?"

Kit, being her grandfather, her caregiver... he surely had to have an idea, didn't he?

________________________________________________
~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

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