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Close Your Eyes	By : Crystal56 Category: +G to L > Howl\'s Moving Castle > Howl\'s Moving Castle Views: 10012 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Howls Moving Castle, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Close Your Eyes
- 2-Chapter 2
- 1
- 2
Disclaimer: I don�t own Howl�s Moving
Castle.

A/N: I haven�t read the book yet but I hope to soon�I just
need to get to a book store, or a library�whichever comes first. Anyways, thanks to all my reviewers! Maybe I didn�t get as many as Lady Mac but I
don�t care. She was the first, it was
only natural. I still luv her
anyways!

But so on and so forth, yes, a new chapter�new things to do
and new things to add. Yes, He will be a
little more selfish�about things. He has
changed�just a little. It�s like I said
before, sorry for any OOCness.

Oh, I just got a review explaining about the sequel to
Howl�s Moving Castle
and the kid� Um well, let�s see�I might do that, make the first child the first
child from the books, I don�t� know. I
don�t know! Here I had it all planned
out and now, it�s totally different!
Maybe I�ll just end it at the birth, give the name and gender and that�s
that. There, that�s what I�ll do�maybe
or maybe not. Give me a break here! Waaaah! Sobs! What am I going to do? I�m such�never mind. Really honestly never mind. I don�t know.
I�m going off the movie, not the books.
When I go off the books, trust me, this story wouldn�t have gone this
way already. I try to follow that sort
of thing, movies, I go for a little leniency.
Isn�t that what fanfiction is? SIGHS.
Okay, I�ll shut up and write.
Just ignore me�I�ll go huddle by Calcifer and sob.

Close Your Eyes

Sophie smiled
faintly as she watched her husband bent over plans on a table by Calcifer, who
was trying to interject without any effect on Howl whatsoever.

�You know what
Howl? It would look better in the other
corner, it�s doesn�t look nice in that one!�
Of course, Howl completely ignored him.
Sophie, barely a month pregnant was watching her husband plan out the
baby room. He was doing it, down to the
very last detail and he would not let Sophie or Calcifer or even Markl assist
him. He took to his planning sessions
about two hours a day, often in the early morning when he thought pretty much
everyone was asleep or in the late night when he thought everyone was going to
sleep if they weren�t already. Sophie,
having been woken up for morning sickness, which didn�t just happen in the
morning, would watch her husband when she could. He never noticed her, she doubted he would
even notice if everyone left the house during his planning time and it fell
down over him.

�No, that�s not
right, that color is too girly. I have
to find one just a little more neutral.�
Sophie smiled widely, Howl, being unable to find out the gender of the
baby was forced to think around it, choosing greens and purples instead of
blues and pinks. Sophie resolved to
remain firm, neither would know until the birth, or until she said so. Whichever came first.

Markl had taken to
practicing magic now at every available opportunity, sometimes under the
supervision of Howl, who had seemed to have his mind on other things most of
the time, namely the coming child, or under the supervision of Sophie. Sophie knew little about magic but she knew
about being safe. Markl wouldn�t try
anything dumb with Sophie watching over him, one reason being his room was
safer that way.

�Ah, that would
look good there!� Sophie looked up from
her chair. She had been nodding off
already while watching him, lost in her own thoughts. She looked at the clock hanging on the
wall. Goodness it was almost midnight!
Sophie stood up and walked towards her husband, gently putting her hand
on his shoulder.

�I think it�s
time for bed Howl,� she said gently. �It�s late and I�m tired.�

Howl jumped as if
he just realized Sophie was there and raised his face to her, the excited look
still in his eyes. �I just got started Sophie!�

Sophie yawned,
covering her mouth with her hand. �You got started two weeks ago and claim you
only just start every night! You�ve been
at this for three hours tonight already.�

�Sophie, I�m
serious, I just got started!� Sophie
laughed at him and sat down on the table, taking his hands into hers. �What do you do love, do you throw the plans
away every night because they aren�t to your liking?�

�It has to be perfect!� he declared.
�I can�t accept anything less than perfection.�
Sophie sighed, he was being stubborn and selfish.

�Why won�t you
let me help you do this?� Sophie asked. �It�s just as much my child as it is
yours.�

�You won�t let me find out if it�ll
be a boy or a girl.� Sophie laughed at
him. �That�s your reasoning behind this?
Howl you haven�t changed a bit!
You�re acting so childish about it.�

�I�m acting
childish?� he asked. �I just want to know!�
He was pouting again. Sophie
hoped he wouldn�t call upon the dark spirits and decide he didn�t want to live
over this, it was such a silly little thing.
Well, it seemed that way to her but he really did want to know. Why didn�t he want the surprise? �Okay Howl, you know you can tell me
anything.�

�I know that,� he
said.

�So why do you
want to know the gender of our child so badly?� she asked. �Is it that
important to you?�

�I want everything to be perfect and
I�ll allow nothing less for my child. I
have to know the gender so I can make his or her room appropriate!�

�That�s not an
answer,� Sophie said and Howl kissed her softly. It was a tender kiss but Sophie felt it have
an edge she didn�t like. She broke away
and regarded Howl seriously. �Are you so
afraid of something? I highly doubt the
room is the only thing you�re concerned about.
Stop holding it inside, if you�re afraid of something please you have to
tell me, I can help you know I can.�
Howl sighed heavily and gathered her into his arms, carrying her to the
couch nearby and setting her down, sitting down next to her.

�So you really
want to know?� he asked. Sophie let out
a sigh of relief. So he was ready to
actually talk. She didn�t mind his
personality but it hurt her a little when he wasn�t open with him about
things. Especially something that had to
do with their future child.

�Yes, I�m afraid
I do,� she said, �After all we�ve been through how can you think otherwise?� He frowned for a moment before regaining his
smile and looked at her with his heart in his eyes.

�I�m sorry
Sophie,� he whispered and gathered her into his arms once again, placing his
hands on her stomach. �I�m worried.�

�And when you�re
worried you get selfish and stubborn,� she whispered and he looked at her.
�What, you know it�s true.�

�Okay, so maybe
it is,� he agreed after a moment. �But you like it when I worry sometimes.�

�Not when you get
selfish and stubborn though,� she said and he laughed. �I guess you�re right
Sophie, I apologize.�

�You will stop being selfish?�

�I won�t make any
promises but I�ll try, at least for you.�

�Good then. So now you can tell me why you�re worried, right?� Sophie regarded her husband seriously and he
looked at her, blushing a little. �You�re going to laugh.�

�Is this any
worse than the time I turned your hair orange?� Sophie asked. �I remember that
quite clearly when you were acting like a stubborn child and tried to kill
yourself, didn�t you?� She raised an
eyebrow. �I didn�t laugh then and so I won�t laugh at you now. Whatever it is it can�t be that bad.�

�I�m worried�� he
began but trailed off and Sophie gently urged him on. �You can tell me, I won�t
laugh. Everyone has worries. Even I do.�

�What are you
worries?�

�You first,�
Sophie said. �I asked you first. If you
tell me yours about this child, I�ll tell you mine about something.�

�It has to be
significant�it can�t be something trivial,� he said. �It has to be a good a
worry as mine.�

�What if I told
you I didn�t have any worries?� She
smiled as his expression fell but then brightened. She had purposely contradicted herself and
knew he had caught it. She did that on
purpose, just so he didn�t get to downcast right now when they were trying to
have a serious discussion.

�You said
everyone had worries and everyone includes you,� he said, nuzzling against her
neck. �So you have to have a worry then.�

�Okay, all right,
so you caught me on that one. But don�t
stray now, I did ask you first and I promise I�ll tell you one of mine when you
tell me one of yours,� she said, taking one of her hands and touching the side of
his head, running her hand through his hair, as dark as midnight. She loved his hair, it was his real hair
color. She knew that from seeing his
past.

�Okay,� he said,
almost reluctant at first. He held her
tightly against him. �Okay, I�m worried about the child.�

�What about the child?�

�It�s about me and the child.� Sophie let out a huff of air. She had some idea now where he was going with
this.

�What about you
and the child?� she asked gently. �What are you so worried about?� A long pause fell between them and she felt
his grip tighten and loosen on her several times.

�Sophie, will I
make a good father?� Sophie knew
it. It was something so silly to be
worried about, but obviously it worried Howl.
Now it all made sense to her, why he was so adamant about the room, why
he wanted to know what the gender would be.
Sophie herself could have laughed at this but she promised she wouldn�t
do such a thing.

�Howl you will be
the best father I know. You�ve been a
great father to Markl already��

�He�s my pupil,
my student. He isn�t exactly my son.�

�But you have
been raising him, have you not?� Sophie asked.

�I have to he is
in my care,� Howl said defensively. �But my own child is different. I mean�babies are so small and fragile and
Markl is at least big enough to walk on his own and fend for himself if he had
to.� Sophie brought her hands down to
entwine his and smiled knowingly.

�Markl still
needs you and a family you know. A baby
needs that as well, a family and lots of love.
We have both. We�re already a big
family, what with Markl and everyone and we love each other so much it�s
necessary now to have a child to pass that love down to,� Sophie said with an
afterthought of �I hope this is making sense to him.�

�I�ve never had
children before,� Howl said.

�That�s obvious
love, I can tell that easily. But I can
guarantee you that you will be a fine father!
You will love this child more than anything and when the time comes for
each stage of the child�s life you�ll know what to do.� Sophie smiled and turned around in Howl�s
arms, looking him straight in the eye. �I promise you this Howl, you will be a
fine father.� Howl smiled and kissed
Sophie passionately. This was a much
better kiss. Sophie knew this was better
than the one she had received before, much more warm and loving than the one
earlier.

Howl�s eyes
sparkled as he looked her in the eye. �Now it�s your turn.�

�Would you two
pipe down I�m trying to rest a little!� Calcifer�s voice snapped the two out of
their embrace and Howl took Sophie�s hand, guiding her towards their
bedroom. �Thank you.� Calcifer�s words followed them and Sophie
smiled. She often felt like Calcifer
didn�t like all the love scenes they acted out in front of him, even if he did
say it was like watching the theatre, only he knew the people on stage.

Howl picked
Sophie up and sat her down on the bed, joining her side only moments later. �As
I was saying earlier, it�s your turn to tell me now what you fear.� Sophie fiddled with her nightclothes a little
and looked at him. She didn�t exactly
know how to put it into words so she thought about it for a bit. �So Sophie, are you going to tell me?�

�Hush Howl, I
have to think for a moment how I�m going to say it so you�ll understand.� Howl fell silent although he kept staring at
her face. She had to turn away from his
gaze because if she stared any more into his blue eyes she�d be lost for the
night, unable to think of anything else but him. She sighed, she knew how she was going to say
it and it was the simplest thing, no beating around the bush or trying to
explain it simply when that would only make it more complicated. She looked up and back into Howl�s waiting
gaze.

�I�m a little
afraid of the childbirth,� she said simply. �I�ve heard various stories when I
would listen to women in the hat shop when I used to work there, how women died
from it and how painful it was. That�s
my biggest worry right now.� Howl nodded
and crossed his legs, looking at his hands in his lap as he regarded and took
in what she had said. �So you aren�t
even worried about being a mother, you already know you�re going to be great.�

�Well,
perhaps. I just know that when the child
comes I�ll love it no matter what. I
just know I�ll do my best and you really can�t ask for more than that. It�ll be a beautiful baby, and that�s because
it�ll have your good looks,� Sophie said.

�And yours,� he
replied. �You�re very beautiful as well you know.�

�No I�m not,�
Sophie said with a slight blush. This
was an old argument but still one they had on occasion. She always ended up loosing it.

�Don�t say that
Sophie, you�re the most beautiful women I know.
Stop bringing yourself down like that,� Howl said. �I don�t want to hear
you say that again. You are beautiful.� He meant every last word of it.

�Oh Howl,� Sophie
said and flung herself into her husband�s arms. �Thank you.�

�Now back to your
problem my dear,� he said. �If you�re afraid of childbirth I had better start
doing research.� His eyes shown with
determination at the new project he looked ready to undertake and Sophie
sighed. He was going at it again.

�What are you
going to start doing research for?� Sophie raised her head and looked at him in
disbelief. How many tasks did Howl want
to take on during her pregnancy?

�I don�t know
many spells about childbirth but I�m sure some do exist�that is unless you want
to have a natural birth as well,� he said and sounded so disappointed. He really wanted to do something for her�her
personally, not just resort to guessing at the gender of their child and
designing a neutral room. �At least let
me try to lessen up the pain.� Sophie
touched his cheek with his hand. He was
trying to help someone else, namely her and she didn�t realize how much it
would mean to him to do something for her until now.

�Okay,� she said
and watched his face brighten. He kissed
her passionately on the lips and broke away with a chuckle. She put a finger on his lips though and
looked at him seriously. �You can only lessen the pain though; I want this to
be as natural a birth as possible.� She
meant each word. She didn�t know if
magic would affect the child in any way.
She didn�t want her child to be in any danger if she could help it. She smiled, she was already overprotective
and the child wasn�t even born yet, although she knew she should be in the
first place.

�You said so
yourself, you were scared about it.
Don�t you want me to be prepared in case complications occur?� he asked.
�I don�t know what they�d be but I heard women talking about them before.� Sophie pondered the words for a moment before
responding.

�I don�t
know.� His face darkened. �Okay fine you
can be prepared with whatever you learn but that doesn�t mean I�ll let you do
it when the time comes. If that�ll make
you worry less over this than fine.�

�Thank you my
love,� he whispered and kissed her forehead.
Sophie watched him pull back and then suppress a yawn as he glanced over
at the clock. �It�s past midnight
Sophie! We�ve both been up way to long.�

�We were having a
serious discussion,� she replied but Howl shook his head. �That�s not an
excuse. Come on now, I better get
changed, give me a minute.� She was a
little reluctant to point out she was only up because she had been awoken by
her stomach and after that had only stayed up to watch her husband work, who
had been up for more than� what was it, 12 or was it 14 hours straight? There was one reason she didn�t want to point
it out, Howl was changing in front of her.
Well, not so much as putting on night clothes like she did but he would
remove his coat, shirt, shoes and socks before getting into bed beside
her. Even though they were now married,
Sophie was still entranced by him every time they were together, from the
little things to the big things, whatever they were. Sophie let out a squeak of surprise as Howl
pulled her down under the covers beside him and held her close. She placed her head on his chest and listened
to the steady rhythm of his heart beating.
It was soft�steady and told her at each interval how much Howl really
loved her.

�Are you feeling
all right Sophie?� Howl whispered to her and Sophie yawned at him amusedly.
�I�m a little tired from having you keeping me up all night but other than that
I think I am fine.� He smiled
wholeheartedly and kissed her forehead.

�That�s good,� he
whispered. �You know Sophie, I really do love you. I will never let anyone or anything take you
away from me.� He meant that with all his
heart. He would never let anything
separate them again.

�That�s good to
know Howl,� Sophie replied and snuggled closer to her husband. �I�m glad to
know you care so much about me. I love
you too. I love you so very much.� With that Sophie began to drift off and Howl
watched her fall into a comfortable sleep.
He whispered a few words to make sure her dreams were peaceful and
without interruption until the morning came.
He loved watching her sleep. She
was so precious to him, so precious even every time he told her the words
didn�t seem adequate enough.

He stroked her
hair gently and reveled once more in its color.
It was so soft and smooth and suited her much better than that braid
had. He smiled when he thought about how
unselfishly she loved him, her whole heart she gave to him without a second
thought. He had done the same; she held
his heart as well. Of course, he was
much more selfish than she was. She kept
him in check a lot of times now and he thanked her for that.

�Sleep well my
love,� he whispered and planted a kiss on her forehead. He gathered Sophie into his arms and settled
down under the covers. �Sleep well and
have good dreams.�

�

Sophie awoke with
a familiar feeling of nausea overwhelming her as she sat up in bed. She saw she was still in Howl�s embrace and
he was snoozing softly. She smiled and
touched his face gently, slipping from his arms gently and scooting to get out
of the bed. Heading towards the bathroom
she tiptoed across the floor. She
arrived at the bathroom just in time.

�

Howl opened his
eyes slowly and noticed that Sophie was gone from his arms. He sighed and shifted the covers away from
him, kicking his legs to the side of the bed as he got up. Heading to his dresser he pulled out one of
his drawers and pulled out a white shirt.
Slipping it over his head he went out down the hallway towards the
bathroom. He heard Sophie gagging and
vomiting and opened the door slowly.

�Don�t come in!�
she exclaimed madly and he shut the door quickly.

�Are you okay
dear?� he asked.

�I�ll be fine!�
she said and more odd noises followed.
He pitied her and loved her even more for suffering this for him�for
their child; he wished he knew a spell to stop her from this sickness that
overcame her.

�Is Sophie okay
in there?� Howl looked down to see Markl
staring up at him.

�I don�t know,�
Howl replied, making a face. �She doesn�t sound too good.�

�Is there
anything you can do to make it better for her?� Markl asked.

�I don�t know but
I aim to start studying,� Howl said and leaned against the bathroom door.

�Does this mean
she won�t be making breakfast this morning?� Markl asked and Howl laughed.

�I guess you�ll just have to make it
then,� Howl said. He was just teasing
but it got Markl upset every single time, it didn�t matter how teasing he made
it sound.

�Calcifer won�t
listen to me and you know it!� Markl replied angrily. Howl laughed again and rustled the boy�s
hair.

�Oh, right, I
better get to it then,� Howl said and stopped leaning on the door and heading
towards the stairs. �And then to research!�

�Don�t you still
have the baby room to plan?� Markl asked, following behind him.

�I do, but�� he
thought for a moment. �I guess I�ll just have to work on both at once!�

�You�re going to
make yourself sick,� Markl said. �That�s what Sophie says, you�ll work yourself
to death or at least sickness.�

�I�ll be fine!�
Howl snapped and then smiled. �I�ve done a lot worse.�

�True,� Markl
said. �But then you didn�t have Sophie and she�s pregnant!�

�You�re such a
downer Markl.�

�I�m just stating the facts,� he
said smugly.

�I�m going back
to bed,� Howl said and Markl latched onto him. �No you�re not you are going to
make breakfast!�

�Okay, all right,
fine, you win,� Howl muttered. �Just this once.� This was going to be a long nine months.

TBC

A/N: So, like it or
hate it? Let me know. Although if you hate it be gently and don�t
flame me, I hate flames. There are ways
to be positive when you say you hate it you know. State what you don�t like, give HELPFUL
suggestions and the like. Anyways,
review people I love you all!

I�ll try to update
ASAP but I�m not making any promises!
Take a look at all the unfinished stories I have!
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Close Your Eyes