James Potter threw open the door to his best friend's flat with a loud bang. The door bounced against the wall and flew back to smack him in the face. With a scowl he whipped out his wand and fixed his now broken nose with a quick wave.
"Oy, you're early for the match Prongs." His best friend, Sirius Black, called from the kitchen where he was eating a very large bowl of the muggle cereal Cheerios.
James rounded the corner and scowled at his friend.
"Right then, I'll just be getting the firewhiskey and you can start your rant about your lovely, stunningly beautiful wife that you love more than anything else in the world." Sirius dropped his spoon into the bowl and pulled two large glasses and an enormous bottle out of a cabinet. He poured the firewhiskey into the glasses and James took a huge drink before beginning his story.
"Lily is driving me crazy!" James exclaimed, "Suddenly she's being anal about everything! Yesterday I had to rehang my towel five times because it was crooked, no joke. She's always been very organized, but not like this. And last night she woke me up again."
Sirius clapped his hands over his ears with a yelp. "Prongs! I draw the line at hearing how many times you and Lils had sex last night!"
"I'm not telling you about that Pads, because we didn't!" James banged his head on the table, "She woke me up because she 'had to have' some kind of muggle delicacy and she couldn't get the jar open."
"What did she want?" Sirius asked, looking interested.
"Pickles and ice cream." James made a face, "That sounds absolutely disgusting."
"Did you open it for her?"
"No, I told her she could open it herself but I had been at Auror training and Order business all day and was exhausted so I wasn't about to get up and fix her some absurd food that she 'had to have'. I told her I didn't think it would kill her to wait until the morning."
Sirius cringed, "Bet she didn't like that."
James winced at the memory, "She left the room and I could hear her bawling from the couch the rest of the night. I felt so bad that I couldn't go back to sleep, but I also didn't want to go apologize."
"So then what happened this morning?" Sirius prompted.
"She got called in really early to work to help care for some of the victims of a small attack last night, so I didn't even see her. But when she left she slammed the door and I swear the entire flat shook. I walked into the kitchen and there was the pickle jar sitting on the table with the lid still on and two bowls of melted ice cream."
Sirius took one look at his friend who looked completely devastated with his head in his hands and uttered the words no Marauder had ever said before, "You have to apologize Prongs."
"I know but sometimes she winds up at St. Mungos for days after an attack."
"She's one of the best Healers they have, of course she's working for days after an attack, but you can always talk to her there if she hasn't come home by tonight. But Prongs, I'm saying this for both of you, you have to talk to her and apologize."
James just nodded, looking completely miserable.
Sirius sighed, "Go home, wait for your gorgeous better half to come home, and for Merlin's sake Prongs, take a shower."
James glared at Sirius. "Some friend you are Padfoot, telling me I stink when I screwed up my marriage."
"You didn't screw up anything Prongs, this is just a little fight. Now, go, you aren't wanted here."
James sighed, "I'll see you for the match then."
Sirius nodded, "Seven o'clock sharp."
And with that James left Sirius' and headed home.
When he got home, James opened the door and noted that Lily's Healer bag was not sitting in its spot next to the door, but rather that it had been thrown onto the couch rather haphazardly. The next thing that he noticed was that the pickle jar was laying broken on the floor and the lamp had been knocked off the table. James took a deep breath and called out his wife's name.
Ever since his father had come home to find that his mother had been murdered by Lord Voldemort in their own home, James' biggest fear was that he would return home one day to find that Lily had been murdered. And, now that they were both prominent members of the Order, James' fear was more realistic than it really should have been.
"Lily!" James called, racing through the flat. When he got to their bedroom, he saw that Lily's glass flower that her mother had given her for her graduation from Hogwarts had been knocked off the vanity and lay shattered on the ground.
"LILY!" James bellowed again. He saw that the door to their bathroom was open and heard a noise coming from inside.
James looked into the bathroom and found his wife, kneeling in front of the toilet with tears pouring down her face, about to retch again.
"Oh Lils." James pulled back her hair as she threw up again into the toilet. "Are you sick?"
Lily nodded weakly and closed her eyes, the tears still pouring down her face.
James wiped them away with his thumb and kissed the top of her head. "Do you think you're going to throw up again?"
Lily shook her head.
"Okay, come here." James pulled her onto his lap, sitting on the floor next to the bathtub and cradled her in his arms like he had done when she had been sick after a party in their seventh year and then again after she had woken up screaming from a nightmare soon after they had been married. "What's wrong flower?"
"I-I thought y-you had left m-me." Lily stammered, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face into his chest.
"Lily Marie Evans Potter, I could never leave you. I love you far too much." James kissed her on the temple and rocked her in his arms slowly.
"But you've seemed angry with me the last couple days and you yelled at me last night." Lily whispered, her lip quivering.
James felt a pang of guilt and gave his wife a quick squeeze, "I'm sorry for yelling at you flower, I didn't mean it. I'm not angry with you, just frustrated. You've been being far more picky with organization that you usually are."
Lily nodded and then a look of distress crossed her face. "James, I think I knocked my flower off the vanity. Did you see it, is it alright?"
"It's nothing we can't fix, Lils. We can easily put it back together. I was afraid that you had were in trouble when I saw that your bag wasn't in its place and the pickle jar and lamp were broken on the floor."
"I wasn't feeling well and they sent me home. Just as I got to the door I felt awfully sick and I rushed to the bathroom. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Lily looked so upset at having worried him that James felt slightly guilty.
"It doesn't matter. I'm just glad you're alright, that's all that matters to me."
Lily closed her eyes and lay her head against her husband's chest.
"Tired?" James asked softly, tucking Lily's hair behind her ear.
Lily nodded.
James stood up, with Lily still cradled in his arms and walked into the living room, sitting in their favorite big chair. He spread the blanket over top of them both. "Comfy?"
Lily nodded again, snuggling deeper into his arms.
"I love you." James whispered, kissing her on the temple as she drifted off to sleep.
"I love you." Lily echoed faintly before the two fell asleep.
A few hours later, James woke to the noises of his best friend entering the flat.
"Oy, glad to see you two made up." Sirius grinned at his friend, "Ready for some Quidditch?"
"Give my ticket to Moony." James told his friend, being careful not to wake Lily who was still asleep. "Lily's sick and I don't want to leave her."
Sirius peered at his sleeping friend and frowned, "She doesn't look too hot, Prongs. What's wrong with her?"
James shrugged, "Stomach bug I think. When I got home she was in the bathroom puking."
Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Poor Lily-Billy. Does she need you to stay with her?"
James shook his head, "Probably not, but I want to anyways."
"You are whipped." Sirius grinned at how happy his best friends were.
"Not as well as I would like him to be." Lily observed, causing James and Sirius to jump slightly since they both thought she was still sleeping. "He wouldn't even open the pickle jar last night."
Sirius laughed and James looked guilty. "I'm sorry Lils, I will open that pickle jar for you whenever you want me to."
Sirius let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like, "Whipped."
Lily grinned at Sirius and then turned to James, "Go to your Quidditch game. I'm probably going to sleep the whole time anyways."
"Are you sure?" James asked, "I hate leaving you by yourself when you aren't feeling well."
"Go."
James stood up, set Lily back down in the chair, then went and grabbed something from their room. "Here, take my mirror in case you need me, okay?"
"Do you have the other half Sirius?" Lily asked.
"A Marauder is never without his two way mirror." Sirius declared dramatically.
"Just say 'Sirius Black' if you need us, okay?" James looked like he was about to add more, but Lily cut him off.
"James Potter, how long have I known you?" Lily gave him a look, "Trust me; I have used these mirrors plenty of times to know how they work."
James grinned at his wife, "I'm just worried about you."
Sirius cleared his throat, causing Lily to laugh, "James, honey, I'll be fine, but if you don't hurry you're going to make Sirius miss the Quidditch match."
James looked at his best friend apologetically and gave Lily a quick kiss. "I love you and I'll see you later."
"I'll be right here, okay? Don't worry about me. I love you too."
James looked like he was going to say something else, but Sirius grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the flat with a cry of, "Bye Lily-rose! Feel better!" as he went.
When James got home after the Quidditch match, Lily wasn't sitting in the chair like he had expected. James hurried to the bathroom again, hoping to find her there. Sure enough, Lily was laying face down on the cool tile floor with her eyes closed.
James sat down next to his wife's head and stroked her hair gently. "Sick again Lils?"
"Wasn't so bad." Lily replied tiredly. "Nothing to worry about."
"Flower, if you aren't better tomorrow, I'm taking you to St. Mungos."
"It's just a stomach bug, no need to worry everyone." Lily protested weakly, "They've got far worse things to worry about at work."
"And they need you to help with those things, so you need to get better as fast as possible. For being one yourself, you seem to have an awfully big fear of Healers."
Lily sat up slowly, "I'm not afraid of Healers; I just don't want to bother them with a stomach bug when there's a war going on."
James pulled her into his lap again, "I know flower. It's just fun to tease you."
Lily screwed up her face in thought for a second and then opened her eyes which were bright with excitement, barely able to control her smile. "James, there is something else it could be."
"Being sick is never good Lils. Why are you so excited all of a sudden?"
"I'm late." Lily replied, "Go grab my wand."
"What are you late for?" James asked in confusion.
"Just go grab my wand." Lily crawled out of his lap and smiled happily to herself.
James looked at her a second before he went to get her wand. When he got back she was sitting on the floor and looking at him with a huge grin on her face. James hadn't seen her look this happy since their wedding.
"Lily, what's going on?" James asked, thoroughly confused as to how she could look so happy about being sick.
"I'm late!" Lily exclaimed.
"But you hate being late."
Lily reached out for her wand and then grabbed him by the hand and pulled him down so that he was sitting beside her. Then she pointed her wand at her stomach and muttered a spell.
A golden orb appeared and after a few seconds it turned a pearly white. Lily let out a squeal and threw her arms around a very confused James.
"Lils, what does that floating orb thing mean?" James eyed the orb skeptically.
"James, it means we're going to have a baby." Lily took his hands and gave them a squeeze.
"A baby?" James asked, his eyes wide as this information sunk in. "You mean, I- you- a baby?"
"Yes, oh James, isn't it exciting?" Lily kissed him.
James stood up, swinging her around in a circle. "We're gonna have a baby!"
And the happy couple laughed and talked happily on, neither of them aware of the horrors their future would bring, neither one aware that they would never see their baby grow up. But that, is the beauty of life.
Just thought I'd write a oneshot while I was waiting on my other stuff to be betaed. It should be up soon, I'm hoping. So if you read Lily's List or Katie:Codename Phoenix, look for a new installment of each within the week:D
Love From,
MotherCrumpet