Author's Note: Hey all! This is my reserve fic entry for the position of chaser 3 on the team Chudley Cannons for the Quidditch League fanfiction competition. My prompt for this was:
Your OTP dealing with a physical illness. So I've done Scorpius dealing with Rose in childbirth.
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!
Complications
Scorpius sat down heavily, sighing hard through his teeth so that it came out as a hiss. His eyes were bloodshot and huge black eyes dragged them down. His nails were bitten to the wick and bleeding and his head ache from all the times that he had pulled his hair at the roots. His tie was slung low, shirt half untucked. He hadn't slept or eaten in the past 24 hours.
In other words, he was a mess.
He stood up, unable to take being still and began to pace the waiting room. Again.
Rose screamed again a horrible grating sound that made Scorpius flinch, tears sprung to his eyes. He automatically started towards the door, determined to go in and help her but stopped short, reaching for the handle. He let his hand drop and a sense of helplessness overwhelmed him.
Scorpius rested his forehead against the door, and screwed his eyes shut tight. What little slithers of fingernail were left dug into his palm hard enough to draw blood as she screamed again. He couldn't take it, he couldn't stand here and listen to her suffer.
"Scorpius," a soft feminine voice spoke his name and a delicate hand came to rest on his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around to come face to face with his mother-in-law. She smiled sympathetically at him and gently took his hand, leading him back over to the chairs and forcing him down. She put a cup of coffee in his hands and would not say a word until he drank some.
"The baby is just breach," she soothed. He didn't know exactly what that meant, but it couldn't be so bad if Hermione was so calm. "She will be fine, they both will. It's just more difficult this way."
"B-but the screams, I can't bear to hear her like that. I feel so helpless, I can't protect her." He broke, the tears that had been threatening all night finally spilling over. "I swore I'd protect her."
"I know you did," she rubbed his back, comfortingly. "But-"
They were cut off as Rose screamed again, this time far louder and more painful sounding than the rest. Both adults flinched and Scorpius' knuckles turned white with force. Rose abruptly fell silent, and the silence was eerie. Far too quiet to have been just another contraction, His heart was in his mouth.
But then, soft at first, but then louder: crying. The distinct sound of a new born baby who has been woken and isn't happy about it.
All he could feel was joy, he had a child. Scorpius shot to his feet as a sweaty, tired looking nurse pushed the door open. His face was a mixture of hope and worry, but when he saw the little pink bundle in her arms he saw nothing else.
"Would you like to meet your daughter, Mr Malfoy?"
He walked forward in a trance, nodding the whole way, and carefully scooped the tiny thing into his arms. Terrified that he might hurt her he barely moved, hardly even daring to breathe. The blanket shifted and he could see a tiny nose, it wrinkled at the new smells. A perfect little rosebud mouth twisted, obviously smelling something it didn't like and emitted a small, whimpering cry. He looked up at the little wrinkled eyes, tightly shut against the unfamiliar light. Slowly, oh so slowly, those eyes opened, blinking quickly with another whimper, and then they were revealed and his breath caught. They were his eyes, she had his eyes.
Scorpius turned, determined to share his joy with the child's grandmother, but Hermione wasn't looking at the happy father, she was looking past him through the door, and whatever she saw wasn't good. The older woman was a pasty white, the delicate hand that had soothed him now gripping her throat.
Fear in his heart Scorpius turned to look through the door, to look at his wife. Rose was a mess. Her fiery hair hung long and straight with sweat, her body was pale and worn out and there was blood. A lot of blood. What was most worrying was the way her head hung limply, as if there was no life left in her to keep it up.
Scorpius started forward, now able to go to her he rushed to her side. Juggling his new daughter he passed her to Hermione to hold and grasped his wife's icy cold hand.
"Rose, Rose sweetheart, please. Please wake up." He begged, feeling desperately for a pulse. Relief flooded him as he found one, it was light and fluttered gently against his fingers, but it was there.
"Excuse me Mr Malfoy," said a nurse primly, not waiting for him to move before she pushed past him. She carried a small vial in her hand filled with a red potion; it had a familiar blue tinge that turned it almost purple. "Blood replenishing with a pepper up," the nurse explained as she fed Rose the concoction. "It's not only good for hangovers you know, plus she did lose a lot of blood."
Scorpius nodded wordlessly, watching Rose's face intently, he could see colour slowly coming back into her cheeks and her skin no longer felt icy to the touch. Her breathing, which had been almost undetectable, became deep and even and her pulse grew strong under his fingers.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly; just as he daughters had done, revealing that shade of blue that he loved so much. Her lips, cracked and dry, moved as if she was trying to speak and Hermione moved forward.
"You have a beautiful baby daughter," she whispered, placing the bundle carefully into its mother's arms. Scorpius carefully fed Rose some water as she gazed adoringly down at the bundle and, as she relaxed, so did he, gazing down at the pair of them with equal adoration.
"My girls."
Please do review this, I'm rather proud for having written it in less than an hour.
Much Love, MaryandMerlin
