A/N: WARNING. THE FOLLOWING FIC CONTAINS A SCENE FROM CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD. IT IS SPOILER HEAVY. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. AS IN, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T WANT SPOILERS, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS. THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING THAT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD. THE SUMMARY FOLLOWING THIS NOTE. THE NOTE FOLLOWING THIS NOTE. SPOILERS!
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Now that I have covered how spoilery this is, i wrote this to be a what if scene. What if Queenie and Jacob had found each other in Paris when she heard him. Because I believe there were many things that led to Queenie choosing Grindelwald that was more about her isolation. That if even one of those events hadn't happened, she'd have been able to stay on the right side. And this is one of them. It is based on some headcanons as to things that went down in the nine months of the film that we don't get to see. Please enjoy.
Her life was crumbling around her. Of course she knew what she had done was wrong. It'd made her sick. But Jacob was so happy. Happier than he'd been in a long time without the worry. She could live with it to make him happy. Oh how his happiness made her happy.
Of course Newt had seen right through it. It didn't help that Jacob had said what she should have been saying. She'd been to excited in the moment to think clearly and the enchantment must have faltered.
And of course, of course Jacob hadn't been truly mad with her. She almost wished he had been. Perhaps that's why she'd called him a coward. She pushed him away, because she knew she'd messed up...and sweet, loving Jacob had come after her. Checking on her. She didn't deserve him.
So she went after Tina. Because she could tell Tina she messed up. That Tina had been right all along.
But...Things had gone wrong there too. Tina wasn't there, not officially. And why else would she have gone if she wasn't? Why had Tina come to Paris then?
So Queenie stood on the street, her umbrella out though it hadn't quite started raining. She knew it was coming. But she stood in the spot for a while. Unsure of how much time was passing. She was...completely alone. Completely lost. She didn't know Paris. She didn't know anyone in Paris. Or...rather, the one person she knew, she had no way of finding anymore.
Her gaze ran blankly over the view in front of her. And then she heard him.
"Newt, can't we stop for a croissant or coffee or somethin'?"
Her broken heart split open at the sound of that voice. She'd know it in her sleep.
"Jacob?"
She started moving, her feet carrying her without her paying attention.
"No, Jacob. Come on."
She heard Newt, but it was only Jacob's name that guided her. Jacob was here. Jacob was in Paris. He was so close. Maybe...maybe she could make this right.
She most faster, shoving past the people on the street, trying to block out the noise in her head...trying to block out the voices...so many voices.
"Jacob!"
She was pleading...if she called out loud enough, would he hear her. Would he want to?
"JACOB!"
Desperation led her. But the voices were crowding in on her. She couldn't hear Jacob anywhere, even as she let herself listen to the voices.
The rain had started at some point too. She'd stepped in a puddle, and despite the umbrella, her feet were soaked.
"JACOB!"
Tears were falling down her face, her voice cracked as she came to a corner, feeling hopelessly lost. She sat on a curb, sobbing. Jacob's name still falling from her lips.
"Queenie?"
Her head perked up, she turned her head around, looking.
"Queenie, baby."
There he was. Rushing towards her, shoving people out of the way.
She'd have moved, but she wasn't sure it was real. Until he was on his knees beside her and Newt was chasing after him.
"Queenie, baby, what's wrong?" Jacob asked, cupping her cheeks.
She blinked at him, once, twice. Then threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Jacob! I'm so sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder, a sob wracking through her body. "I shouldn't have done it Jacob. I shouldn't have."
He hushed her, a hand patting her damp hair, her umbrella having fallen to the side. "Shh, baby, it's okay. Come on. Let's get somewhere warm and dry and we can talk about it."
Queenie sat in a small chair across from the couch that Jacob occupied. She looked down to her hands in her lap.
"Queenie…" His voice was soft, gentle. She didn't deserve that.
"I'm sorry Jacob. It was wrong of me to enchant you…" she whispered.
"Honey, it's okay-"
"No. It's not. I knew it was wrong. I did it anyway."
"We can talk about it later."
"No. Jacob. Please." Her eyes lifted to meet his, sorrow and pain behind them.
She bit her lip, the nervous queue she enacted often as she looked at him. He deserved to know, to know everything.
"Alright, honey. You know I ain't mad for it," he told her. "I just...didn't want to risk you gettin' in any trouble. I ain't worth it."
A gentle smile flickered on her lips as she shook her head. "Oh Jacob, you're worth so much more than you think." It was true. Even if she weren't a legilimens, she'd know that.
"Jacob, honey. I...I didn't have much of a choice. Not just because you wasn't givin' me one. MACUSA, they was gettin' suspicious. And was sendin' someone to come see if you needed obliviatin'."
"I-"
"Jacob, please, please listen."
He gave a small nod as she continued, "I wanted to protect you. I couldn't take you forgettin' again. And I...I was terrified. I acted rashly. And I'm sorry for that."
He got up, and moved closer, taking her hand in both of his and kneeling before her. It still had the ring from their engagement...the one that was surely over.
"Queenie, baby, that's what I wanted to protect you from."
"I know."
"Why didn't you talk to me?"
She bit her lip again. "I was afraid you weren't gonna choose me, again…"
He sighed, and his mouth opened though she continued before he could speak, "Jacob, there's somethin' else."
He cocked his head at her, eyes showing the curiosity and worry. "What is it doll?"
Her lip might very well be raw by the end of this. But she couldn't help it as she adjusted in her seat.
Her eyes met his, watery and sad. "Jacob, I'm...we're...I'm pregnant," she admitted quietly.
He looked at her, almost disbelieving. "What?"
She sobbed. She hadn't even admitted it out loud to herself yet. And now she was telling him.
"We're...having a baby?" he asked.
She only nodded.
"Doll, why didn't you tell me that?" he asked.
"I...I wasn't sure when we left. Not entirely."
"But you are now?"
She nodded. She knew he wanted to know how she was sure. Then he thought it through, blushed, realized she was likely reading him and blushed some more.
"I think that's why I was...a bit rash. I was scared...and I couldn't let you go."
He hugged her then, his hand in her hair again, pulling her close to him. "Oh, honey," he murmured. "We'll figure this out. We got this. We got each other. You ain't gotta worry."