Chapter Text
Alice: Hey did you block Agatha?
Rio: No
Alice: ...ok because she's asking if you did
Rio blinked. Once. She stared blankly at the pile of paperwork in front of her that she had been doing her best to complete when the text from Alice had come in. She looked back at the little blue bubbles of Alice's messages.
Alice was a good friend—a great friend, even. Rio might count her among her best friends, if she was the sort of person to catalogue her friendships like that. One of the things that made Alice was great was how well she had been keeping her individual friendships with Rio and Agatha separate. In the year since the break-up, Alice had never texted Rio about Agatha even once.
Rio looked back down at the paperwork and made the executive decision that it could wait.
Rio: I mean, I muted her. I didn't block her entirely.
Alice: Rio...
Rio: Weren't you the one who told me it was ok to block her????
Alice: I'm very proud of you. Good job.
Alice: But apparently she's asking????
Alice: ...Jen is saying that I need to tell you to unblock her. Or unmute her. Whatever.
Rio's exhale whistled through her teeth. Jen...Jen was Agatha's best friend, even though they would mutually die before admitting it. Jen had once called Rio a "creepy lurker" when she and Agatha had first started dating, a label that Rio wore with pride. She hadn't liked Rio for the entire duration of the relationship and, if gossip was anything to go by, was happy that Agatha and Rio had broken up.
If Jen was saying that Rio needed to unblock Agatha, it had to be something serious.
Rio: Well if Jen says so.
Alice: Please tell me when you unmute so I can tell Jen so she stops annoying me about it
Rio pulled up her contact for Agatha and hit the unmute button.
Immediately, her phone began to vibrate with a deluge of missed messages.
Agatha: You asshole
Agatha: You fucking asshole
Agatha: You did this on purpose didn't you????
Agatha: I swear to the Mother, Vidal, when I next see you
[One missed call from Agatha Harkness]
Agatha: Pick up the phone you bitch!
Agatha: Did you fucking block me????
Rio jabbed her thumbs aggressively at the keyboard.
Rio: You were muted.
The three dots that showed that Agatha was typing popped up. Then they went away. Then they came back.
Agatha: Rio, I need you to be honest. Did you do this on purpose?
Rio: Do what?
Agatha: Rio, I'm serious. Did you???
Rio stared at the phone, feeling the furrow in her brow deepening even further.
Rio: Agatha. I do not know what you are talking about.
The three dots showed up and then went away again. Rio had begun to type a series of question marks when an image came through.
It was a picture of Agatha's (gorgeous, amazing, wonderful) hands. One of those hands was flipping Rio off. The other hand was holding a positive pregnancy test.
Rio felt her stomach lurch. Oh shit. Oh shit.
You see, when a mommy witch and a mommy witch love each other very much, they can....
Scratch that.
When a mommy witch and a mommy witch love each other very much, but their own separate trauma conga lines make it pretty impossible to be good romantic partners to each other (Agatha refused to communicate and would shut down while Rio tried overly hard to communicate. To a fault), they break off their relationship in a god awful fight their former neighbors are still talking about. They promise their mutual friend group that it's all good, that they can behave themselves, but proceed to be such absolute terrors to one another in public that it's mutually decided amongst their friends that they will be invited to separate events until they can behave. And so it goes, until they are both, separately, invited to Lilia's Summer Solstice party and, under the influence of not seeing each other for a year (and more than one substance), fuck in the bathroom about it.
And, as can happen, when a mommy witch and a mommy witch come together in the midst of a fertility festival and declare their love for one another, the Divine Mother will bless their union with a child.
Or so Rio was told, growing up. Now, as she chewed on her bottom lip, she contemplated her hazy memories of what had happened in the bathroom. She vaguely remembered talking to Hela and spying on Agatha flirting with Wanda across the room, which had made Rio's stomach curdle. She remembered Lilia giving her a tea which she drank of deeply, which made everything seem hazy and vague. She remembered Alice handing her a flower crown to put on her head, then tugging her outside to see the bonfire. She remembered the feeling of her green magic unwinding joyfully around her before cozying up against Agatha's spirit magic. If she thinks particularly hard, she can vaguely remember the sensation of pushing Agatha up onto the sink before sliding two fingers inside her.
But she can't remember what was said, what intentions were set, just the feeling of the push and pull between her and Agatha that had felt so strong and so familiar. She did remember Agatha's mouth, once it was all over, twisting harshly and spitting out "I told you I didn't want to see your face. This was a mistake" before she hopped off the sink and left Rio, bereft, with her underwear damply clinging to her and her hand sticky.
When she'd woken up the next morning and remembered these pieces of memory, shoddily strung together like the world's worst friendship bracelet, she'd finally muted Agatha in her phone, if only to keep the latent hope from flinging itself around her chest.
Maybe she'll text me. Maybe we'll find our way back to each other. Maybe maybe maybe maybe.
They had found their way back to each other, Rio supposed. Just not the way she ever expected it to happen.
She was still staring at the picture of the pregnancy test, her heart racing, when the phone began to ring. Part of her assumed (hoped) that it would be Agatha's name on the screen, but instead, it was Alice's.
"I unmuted her," Rio said, in lieu of a greeting, when she picked up.
"Ok, ok," Alice said. "Did she say why she wanted to contact you?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Cool."
Rio heard a rustle, as though Alice was moving the phone away from her ear, then a bellow.
"Jen! Will you tell me what the fuck is happening now?"
"What the fuck, Alice?" Rio asked, moving her phone away from her own ear, which was smarting from the high decibels.
"Jen wouldn't tell me what's up with Agatha until she told you."
"Maybe you should let Agatha tell you herself," Rio muttered.
"No way. You're all being weird and cagey about it, so I need to know now." Her volume, somehow, increased from the previous yell. "Jen! Tell me!"
"Wouldn't Jen telling you be like a HIPPA violation or something?" Rio asked.
Alice gasped. "Oh my Gods. Agatha's pregnant?"
Oh fuck. Rio groaned. "I didn't say that, I—"
Alice hung up and the line went dead. Rio groaned again and rubbed her fingers together, in hopes the movement would provide its usual soothing abilities.
Shit. She hadn't responded to Agatha's picture and now she'd taken long enough that the delay was probably weird. She resisted the urge to google what to ask your ex when she tells you she's pregnant.
Finally, she settled on texting Agatha a How are you feeling?
Her phone buzzed in response almost immediately.
Agatha: Horrible.
Agatha: Morning sickness isn't only in the morning.
Agatha: I had to call out of work twice this week.
Rio: Oh shit. I'm so sorry.
Rio: What can I do?
Agatha: Have you considered going back in time and never meeting me?
That hit Rio like an arrow through the chest. Fuck. Rio bit at her lip until it hurt and texted back.
Rio: I mean, you can talk to Lilia about that if you want to make it a reality.
Agatha: Yeah, that's not how her magic works.
Rio: Well green doesn't have anything to do with time. So.
Rio stroked her fingers against the rubbery edges of her phone case (still not nearly as soothing as it usually was), then hesitantly sent Agatha another text.
Rio: What's the plan as of now?
Agatha: Sleep and try not to throw up
Rio: No I mean, like.
Rio: ...
Agatha: Spit it out.
Rio: Are you keeping it?
There was a long pause. Not even any typing dots. Rio resisted the urge to call Agatha and beg for...something. She wasn't sure what.
Agatha: Oh fuck you Rio.
Agatha: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.
Rio: ????
Rio: I don't know what I did
Agatha: Fuck you
Rio: Agatha I just want to know if I need to start preparing to co-parent or if I need to have a conversation with Jen.
There was the three dots for what felt like forever, and then no response. Rio let her phone drop down onto the stack of paperwork and buried her face in her hands, breathing as deeply and steadily as she could. It took her several long moments for her to steady her breathing. When she thought that it was as good as it would get, she picked up her phone again and texted Jen.
Rio: Hello Jen. I don't know what has been discussed between you and Agatha, but let me know if my magic is needed.
There. Professional. Rio silenced her phone so she couldn't hear it anymore and crossed the short distance from her desk to her bed. She flopped down, burying her face in the pillow. She heard her tarantula familiar, Victoria, give a hiss of concern from her tank in the corner but Rio couldn't bring herself to raise her head to reassure her spider.
The summer and winter solstices were, arguably, the most important days of the year for witches (depending on the practices, traditions, and culture of the witch in question). The spring equinox and Halloween kept a green witch like Rio busy (cycle of life and death and all of that), but it was the solstices where the veil grew thin and everyone's magic went more than a little wonky.
A child conceived during a solstice was usually powerful from the start of their existence. Traditional abortion methods, if that was Agatha's choice, would fail and a very special working would need to be done by a powerful green witch in order to end it. A healer, even one as good as Jen, would not be able to cut it.
Rio wasn't a midwife, she was a death doula, but she'd been hired to perform the working twice before. But that of course had been with clients, strangers. She had no idea how she would approach this with Agatha. With Agatha being pregnant with her kid.
She ended up falling into a fitful, anxiety filled, nap and only checked her phone when she resurfaced. There were no texts from Agatha, but Jen had responded.
Jen: I'll let you know if it's needed but I highly doubt it.
Rio merely had the energy to send a thumbs up emoji before she fell back into bed.
Rio didn't hear from Jen or Agatha for the rest of the week, though Alice texted her most days with a false casualness and Lilia, as she was wont to do, sent her a blurry picture of a tarot spread that Rio didn't take the time to parse through. Despite her usual boundaries with her work and life balance, she threw herself into her job. It would be rude to obsessively check her phone when she was with her patients and their families. They deserved to have her entire focus.
She was leaving the hospital from a new patient intake when she finally received a text from Agatha.
Agatha: I need you to go to lunch with me on Saturday.
Agatha: This is not a date.
Agatha: Link to calendar invite.
Rio felt her eyebrows rise nearly to her hairline but sent back a quick I can be there.
She got a phone call from Alice about an hour after she made it home.
"Jen told me that Agatha told her that she was inviting you to lunch," Alice said, after their customary greetings.
"Yes," Rio confirmed. "And?"
"Is it in a public place?"
"Yes," Rio repeated. "It's at a public cafe. I have been there before, even."
"Ok, that's good," Alice said. "You two are much more likely to behave in public."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rio asked.
"Based on previous experience, I foresee this meeting ending in either a screaming match or the two of you hooking up in the bathroom," Alice said.
"The bathroom there really isn't clean enough for that," Rio said.
"So, you thought about it then?"
"What! No! It's a public bathroom, Alice! It's barely sanitary to go to the bathroom in there."
"Well I'm glad that you won't have sex with Agatha in the bathroom, then."
"Alice, she's angry with me. That's...that won't be happening."
Alice's voice somehow became more skeptical. "You once got super drunk and told me how much you missed angry sex with Agatha."
"That's-What? That's different."
"How?" Alice asked.
"That was within the parameters of our relationship," Rio explained. "And therefore, was acceptable within the bounds of that relationship. We're not in a relationship anymore."
"And this baby happened how, then?"
"I don't-I'm-" Rio stuttered. "I don't know-"
"You made a kid and you don't remember how it happened?" Alice asked, incredulously.
Rio rubbed at her forehead. "Lila's drinks were really strong, ok? I don't remember much after you and I went outside to the bonfire."
"Huh," Alice said. "I didn't think the drinks were that strong."
"Well, guess I'm a lightweight," Rio said, peevishly.
"Sure," Alice said, her voice still skeptical. "Please don't fuck Agatha in the bathroom."
"I won't do it again," Rio promised.
"Again?" Alice shrieked, her voice shrill enough that Rio's ear was still aching for thirty minutes after she got off the phone.
Rio arrived at the cafe fifteen minutes early. Maybe it was her being overeager, but she was able to order a pastry and a drink and grab a table. She debated ordering for Agatha, since Rio still remembered all of her favorites, but then discarded the idea. Agatha might get pissed off at her for that, might see it as Rio overstepping.
She was playing with her phone and nibbling half-heartedly at her pastry when Agatha's shadow fell over the table. Rio looked up as Agatha slid into the seat across from her, her face stony.
"Hi," Rio said, politely. "How're you?"
"Did you know, that in order to form it's own bones, the fetus steals calcium from the mother's?" Agatha asked.
"Uh, I think I did actually." Rio vaguely remembered Jen mentioning that, maybe, at some point.
"Cool. And you did this to me anyway?"
"I don't...you keep accusing me of doing something and I'm not sure what exactly?" Rio said, the pitch of the sentence rising with her confusion.
"You're telling me that you, a green witch, with domain over life and death, are seriously claiming ignorance in how I got pregnant?" Agatha demanded. Her voice rose loudly enough that a few people at nearby tables started looking over.
"Keep you voice down!" Rio hissed, not wanting to draw unwanted attention or to interrupt the people around them.
"Seriously? You're policing my tone now?"
"Agatha no! I don't know! I-" Rio floundered. "I remember only half of the party. I vaguely remember being in the bathroom with you and what happened there. I don't. I don't remember. I wish I did—"
"Seriously?" Agatha repeated, but her voice was a little softer.
"I don't know what was in my head at the time that it happened. Maybe I did think something errant, something that lead to...I don't know. But I'm sorry." Rio swallowed hard. "I'm sorry I stuck you with this. I texted Jen already. I'll do the working for you. I'm strong enough. It'll work. If that's what you want."
Agatha's face grew dark. "If that's what I want?" she repeated.
Rio nodded. "I've done it before, for a few patients. I can do it for you." She suddenly became aware that her hands were shaking against the sides of her cup and she gripped it tighter in hopes of ending the movement. "I'm not going to make you do something...keep something that you don't want."
Agatha's anger seemed to deflate. "You are such an idiot," she muttered.
Rio looked at her, at her perfect face, at her long fingers that drummed against the table, at her windswept hair and thought to herself, Yes. I'm an idiot. I let you slip through my fingers.
"What am I being idiotic about this time?"
Agatha glared at her. "I'm keeping the baby. Obviously."
All of the air in Rio's lungs punched out of her. A baby. Agatha had called it-them a baby. Agatha was keeping the baby.
Agatha was keeping Rio's baby.
"Oh, wow. Ok," Rio could barely catch her breath. Agatha just stared at her expectantly. "Ok, so. What do you-what do you need from me?"
Agatha reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I've created a series of rules for us to use to navigate this..." her lips pursed, "situation."
Rules. Rules were good. Rio loved rules and clear expectations. She took the paper from Agatha's hand, knowing that she was appearing overeager, and unfolded it.
Rule 1: Agatha Harkness, the mother of the child, recognizes that Rio Vidal is the father of this child. As such, Rio Vidal has certain rights to the child. Once the child is born, Agatha Harkness expects that Rio Vidal will secure a family lawyer for herself in order to create a reasonable and enforceable custody agreement that is in the best interests of the child.
Rule 2: The care of Agatha Harkness and the unborn child will be overseen by Jennifer Kale. Agatha Harkness will make medical decisions based on the recommendations of Jennifer Kale and her team. Rio Vidal is permitted to voice opinions and suggestions for care, but Agatha Harkness will make all final determinations for care of herself and the unborn child. Once the child is born, medical decisions will be made based on the created parenting plan.
Rule 3: Agatha Harkness expects Rio VIdal to make appropriate preparations for the child, such as and including reading parenting books, taking parenting classes, and purchasing materials for the child.
Rule 4: Communication between Rio Vidal and Agatha Harkness should focus on the child and should not include unrelated topics.
Rule 5: Rio Vidal is not to make physical contact with Agatha Harkness unless given explicit permission.
Rio finished the list and took a deep breath. This was good. She had guidelines now. Parameters. She could work with this. She would be the absolute best co-parent possible for Agatha for the next 8ish months.
"Is this my copy?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady. "Or should I take a picture of it?"
Agatha's eyebrow raised slightly in surprise. "No, that's your copy," she said.
"Excellent," Rio said. She skimmed through the rules again. "I think these are all reasonable requests. Do you need any financial assistance from me to proceed with medical care?"
Agatha seemed to relax. "No, not at this time. It's all new enough my insurance is still determining coverage."
"We can split all of the costs 50-50 until the birth of the child," Rio said. "Maybe that should be included as Rule 6." She pulled a pen out of her pocket to write on the paper. "Otherwise, financial support can be determined once the child is here and the custody arrangement is figured out. I know that custody won't be split 50-50 until the baby is older."
Her script was messier than Agatha's, but she managed to cram in Rule 6: All costs related to the child will be split 50-50 until the child is born or a custody agreement including child support is created. Rio slid the paper and pen over to Agatha's side of the table. "Do you have your own copy? So you can make sure you have the same wording."
"I'll take a picture," Agatha said.
"Ok, well, I think that's all I have to add," Rio said. "But I can contact you if I think of anything else."
"Yes, you can," Agatha said. She snapped a picture of the rules paper with her phone and then handed it back to Rio.
"Great." Rio folded the paper and stuck it into her pocket. "Is there anything else you need from me?"
"That will be all."
"Then I'll be on my way. Please let me know if you need anything. Anything at all." Rio slid her chair back, cringing as it scraped loudly across the floor. "I would appreciate if you keep me updated on how you and the baby are doing. I'll...well. I'll worry otherwise."
Agatha seemed caught off guard. "I will." She swallowed. "Rio, you swear you didn't do this on purpose?"
Rio licked her lips. "You think so little of me," she asked, lowly, "that you think I would get you pregnant, without your consent, on purpose?"
Agatha seemed to deflate a little. "I don't know. No. Maybe. It's all so unexpected."
"Well, I didn't," Rio spit out. This was why she'd let Agatha slip through her fingers. The accusations that Agatha would throw at her, not caring how much it would hurt. She stood up and nodded sharply at Agatha. "Te veo" she said, before walking out of the coffee shop.
A day of work and a few texts exchanged with Alice later (It was fine. We didn't fight. I swear I'm not lying. Agatha gave me some rules she wants me to follow while she's pregnant. We'll be able to be civil), Rio stumbled home to her lonely shoebox of an apartment. The walls were a stark gray and the lightbulbs made her eyes twitch, but she'd filled every available space with as many plants as she could possibly cram in. She searched the pots to find Victoria, who she had let out to explore before she left for the day. She found Victoria in the tarantula's second favorite plant to hang out in and Victoria waved her little legs to Rio as she approached.
"Ay, tremendo día, Victoria." She picked up the tarantula and let her make her way up Rio's arm and across her shoulders. "I'm gonna be a dad. ¿No te lo dije? Agatha's gonna have our baby."
Victoria seemed to start at this. Her little legs drummed out a frantic pattern against Rio's shoulder.
"...Solo un nene. No somos arañas, acuérdate. There won't be many. Pues -- at least, I think it's one. Jen will be able to check."
This didn't seem to comfort Victoria at all and she made her way up Rio's head.
"Coño, I'll need to get a new apartment. There's not enough room here for a baby. We'll need to find a place with enough room for all of us. Tú, yo, el nene, las plantas..."
She let her voice trail off and hang in the space around them. Victoria burrowed deeper into Rio's hair, nesting. In the peace and quiet, Rio closed her eyes and let herself drift.
At first, she found herself trying to picture what the baby would look like. Rio was an only child, but her parents had both had giant families. It had felt like every time she'd attended a family function, there would be a new baby. That experience helped her picture a bundle, with a little hat and a blanket, but found a hard time picturing a baby's face. Would their eyes be brown or blue? Would their hair be her darker shade, almost black, or Agatha's brunette? Would they smile like her or Agatha? Would they inherit one of their forms of magic or develop one all their own? Blood witches tended to take after their mother, so it would stand to reason that this child would be a spirit witch, a siphon, like Agatha. The thought made Rio smile and she found herself picturing it more easily. A small child of indeterminate gender, scrawny, with long hair, following Agatha around, little purple sparks drifting off their fingers.
Purple sparks...Rio closed her eyes, her face pinching. She remembered the purple sparks. She remembered...
Lilia's bonfire crackled in front of her, the flames leaping high. They shifted a rainbow of colors, leaping from red to purple to blue. In Rio's floaty, out-of-it state, she couldn't tell if it was magic or just her imagination.
She crashed into someone's shoulder. Alice. It was Alice's shoulder. Alice's warm orange magic swirled around her, tickling. It felt like a giggle would sound, the feeling helped along by Alice's laughter. Their hands tangled together and Rio pressed a sloppy platonic kiss to Alice's cheek, which made Alice laugh harder.
"I've missed you," she whisper-shouted in Alice's ear.
"I missed you!" Alice exclaimed. For once, Rio didn't flinch at the volume of her voice. "We need to hang out!"
"We doooooo," Rio drawled. "Just you and me."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Alice agreed, nodding fervently. Her face was flushed from alcohol and the heat of the bonfire. Rio's green magic spiraled around them with a crackling playfulness, until it was shoved along by Alice's protection magic.
"I'm going to get us another drink," Alice declared, turning back to go back inside.
"Ok!" Rio said. "If Lilia has marshmallows, bring those too! We can make s'mores!"
Alice gave her a thumbs up as she went inside. Rio felt jittery, her magic still swirling around. Normally, it felt like this at the equinoxes or Halloween, not during a solstice. It began to jump around, swirling from person to person. Lilia's other friends who she had invited, that redhead Agatha had been flirting with, the sweet Hispanic kid that Rio had talked to for a little bit in Spanish, Lilia herself, Jen who was wrapped around Lilia, and...
Agatha.
Rio's magic slammed into Agatha's magic hard enough that Rio felt the jolt resonate through her body. She fell forward, grasping at nothing, and felt her hands and knees scrapping along the ground. Her magic though, was spiraling into an excited dance with Agatha's purple. It went round and round and round and Rio, dizzily, felt like she was going around with it.
Someone came and picked her up. She clutched at the strangers arms, lurching, her body unsure of which way was up. She felt, somehow, even more lightheaded than before. Her whole body felt warm and tingly. She groaned a little. Her magic was twining around Agatha's, tightly coiling themselves together.
"Rio," came Agatha's voice. She also sounded intoxicated. Exacerbated too. She frowned down at Rio, who knew her facial expression must be idiotic. "You hurt yourself. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."