I am so, so sorry for this wait. I get so caught up in reading other people's stories, that I forget to update my own!
I don't own anything in the Harry Potter Universe.
It's six in the morning, and I finally am able to return home to my wife. I spent all night in a small muggle town that a handful of death eaters ransacked and terrified it's citizens. If I never use another memory charm for as long as I live, it will still be too soon. I am covered in a mixture of my own sweat and the ash that fell from the town's burning buildings. I'm so glad Lily wasn't called to this mission. Her healer work is far too important, and she deserves a break between both her job and the Order. The freezing Demember night did little to help matters. Luckily I can cover myself in a heating charm. Muggles don't have the same luxury.
I walk up my stairs skipping every other step as I go up to stretch my aching legs. All I want is to curl up with my love, but I can't handle another moment without showering. I enter our bedroom and jump slightly when I see our bed is completely empty. The sheets are pushed to the end of the bed in a hurried, dismayed mess and my mind instantly conjures up every bad scenario known to wizard kind. My hands start shaking with worry.
"Lily!" I call to the empty room. I hear a crackling, choking noise come from the master bathroom and I rush to the door to greet the unknown sound. Nothing but horror enters my body when I see the love of my life curled up on a ball crying her eyes out. She looks up at me as if I had stuck her with my bare hands and then she curls tighter into herself and her sobs increase in volume. I approach her as I would a frightened first year and sit on the ground with my legs stretching to be on either side of her body. If I were to pick her up I could place her on my lap.
"Lily, love, what's going on?"
She doesn't respond and pushes out of my embrace to rush to the toilet where she expels everything that could possibly be inside her. I go behind her and reach to hold all of her long, curly, red hair. She heaves until it's nothing but dry air she is coughing up when I bring her head into my stomach. I run my hand up and down her hair softly.
"Are you okay, babe? Did you catch something at work?" She looks at me with adoration and sadness before a wave of green hits her and her head is back in the bowl of the toilet.
"James," She says through heaves and gasps, "Can you please get me water? And something small to eat."
"Of course, Lils."
I rush downstairs and get her an ice cold glass of water. She doesn't like room temperature water. I get a small breakfast of yoghurt and granola and mix it all up for her. My bad habit of an overactive imagination is starting to ruin me. Did someone hurt her? Did she hurt herself? Did her bitch of a sister, Petunia, try to contact her? My hands grip the kitchen counter in a petty effort to relieve some of the pain running back and forth in my brain. I shut my eyes tightly and take a moment to calm my breathing. My knuckles are turning white when I suddenly snap out of it. My wife is upstairs, alone, and sick, damn it!
When I reach her again, she has finally pulled herself back into our bed. The sobbing has ended but she still has silent tears trailing down the plains of her face. I hold the cold glass to her lips and watch her chug the water in several large gulps. I hand her the bowl of granola and she accepts it in her dainty hands.
"What happened, Lily. I can't stand seeing you like this."
She doesn't look me in the eye as she brings a spoonful of granola to her lips and swallows the breakfast methodically.
"Lily, you're killing me here!"
"James! We are not in a place to make jokes like that!" She says abashedly. She takes very literally. I know this.
"I'm sorry, love. I mean you're making me anxious."
"Something bad happened." She still isn't looking at me.
"You're sitting here. You're alive and well with me. Nothing could be that bad. If Petunia or Vernon pulled anything, though, you know I will go ri-"
"James! Stop please! It has nothing to do with them." Her crying reappeared in earnest. I pull her into my lap and her head falls onto my shoulder. The angle is a bit awkward but I'm able to press light kisses onto the top of her messy curls.
"I've been sick for several days now." She begins. She pulls her head away from my shoulder and is looking directly at me. She is holding my gaze with everything in her, as if looking away meant a terrible fate.
"I'm so sorry I haven't been here, Lily. Dumbledore has been sending Mckinnon and me all over the place."
"It's not your fault, James. I know that. I'm not upset. But lately I've just been so emotional, sore, and just not well. So I got nervous, and James. . . I did a diagnostic test."
"A test, Lily? You've already passed your healer examinations."
"No, James. Not like that. It's. . . it's a pregnancy test."
"A. . . a what?" I obviously know what a pregnancy test is. But I'm in shock. I thought we had been careful! We talked down the line of course, but we got married so young that we wanted to take it slow, have time just us!
"James. . . I'm pregnant." She gives into her emotions and launches her body around me and there is no noise besides her sobs, deep breathes, and her saying "I'm sorry."
"Lily, look at me love! Don't you say sorry! Of course we weren't planning this, but I'm so incredibly happy. Why aren't you?" My hands come down to her still flat stomach. We have a baby. Lily Evans is carrying MY baby. I am going to be a dad. My eyes feel like they have grown five hundred times larger and I can't stop staring at where my hands are covering her torso.
"James, how can we bring a child into this war?! They will know of nothing but pain and hate. What if they aren't safe?! What if one of us. . . or both of us?!"
"Lily, you know I would do anything to keep you safe, and now to keep OUR child safe. The timing isn't perfect, but we created a gift Lily. I love the baby already. Don't the words 'our baby' just sound incredible?"
A red coloring flooded her cheeks and the smallest accent of a smile creeps onto her face.
"Yeah, it does. But James, we-" I cut off whatever statement she was going to rebuttal me with by kissing her with all of my might. I have so much love to give this incredible woman. With her carrying our child, I could never ask for anything more from her.
"No, Lily. Stop worrying. This baby will know nothing but love. There are so many people in this baby's life that will do anything for it. I'm at the top of the list. I'm contacting Dumbledore immediately. I refuse to let you go on any more missions. I'll stop you from going to work if I have to. You and this baby are everything to me, Lily. You are my world."
Lily not even protesting to me trying to get her out of work shows me she has been already thinking about this on her own. That makes it so much easier on me. Then a thought knocks me senseless.
"Lily, we were being careful. When did we make this baby?"
"Do you remember Halloween? Sirius made us go out to muggle London just for that one night. We both might have had a bit too much to drink."
"Oh Merlin! I still can't believe Sirius. . . SIRIUS" I shriek in recognition.
Lily pulls away from me and covers her hands over her ears to calm the loud noises. I jump from our bed and scramble to our dresser and throw socks out of a drawer haphazardly to find exactly what I'm looking for.
"Sirius!. . . Padfoot! SIRIUS!" I hear the padding of feet on the other side of the mirror.
"James bloody hell! What in Hogwarts name is going on?! It's not even seven."
"Lily's pregnant." I interrupt his ranting. His barely awake eyeballs bulge out in realization to my words. He runs his hand through his hair before speaking to me again.
"YOU KNOCKED EVANS UP!" It came out as a statement and not a question and I let out a hearty laugh. I felt Lily's hands sneak around my middle and her face pops out from behind me to be in vision of the mirror.
"Classy, Sirius really. I can't believe James came to you before telling his own mother!"
"Of course he had to tell the godfather first!"
"How are you so sure it's you?" Lily quipps back, "We were just talking about Remus actually. We know he would be a much better influence on our child." I look down at her to see her just being able to hide a small grin at Sirius' dismay.
Sirius' jaw drops in disbelief. "Prongs, mate! You can't wound me like this! My heart is crumbling!"
"Of course we would love you to be the baby's godfather, Pads." Lily speaks before I do. It's rare she calls him by his Marauder nickname. She knew how special it was to all four of us best friends. It shows how truthful she's being in her statement. Of course we haven't spoken about godparents, but there is no one else I would want for my first born.
Sirius actually looks choked up and emotional over our proclamation to him. I've rarely seen him appear so sentimental. I do him a favor by not addressing it.
"I'm so happy for you two, genuinely." I thank him before looking down at my wife. Her tears have dried and she is smiling broadly. This is exactly how I like to see her.
"We have to go Paddy. I need to write to Dumbledore about getting Lily out of missions from now on."
"Sounds like a good plan, mate. I'm going back to sleep. I'll come over soon to meet my godson!"
"How do you know it's a boy?!" Lily laughs at him.
"It's just a feeling. Bye parents!" He didn't wait for our response before he hangs up.
"We're parents, Lils. How amazing does that sound?" I lean down to kiss her, but she pulls away and her nose crinkles up in the most adorable way.
"No kisses, or letters to Dumbledore, until you shower! Truthfully James, you smell awful."
"Only if you join me, Mrs. Potter." She knows that's my favorite thing to call her and she gives in easily. I turn on the shower and strip off my clothes before valiantly offering to help her out of hers. I hold her hand and lead her into the shower. With a small side of funny business and giggling like new lovers and best friends, we get each other all cleaned. The warmth of the water and her happy body consumes me until I don't think I can feel anything else while we wrap our pruned bodies in fluffy towels.
"You're happy, James? Honestly."
"Honestly, my love. I am the happiest man alive. I am on top of the world. Thank you for giving me this gift." I lean down to kiss her this time and this time she accepts. I pour every ounce of love and thankfulness I have in me in the hopes she feels it all over her body. I don't ever want her to doubt the love I have for this baby.
"I love you, James."
"I love you forever and ever, Lily."
I thought about adding meeting Harry in this chapter and making it a mega chapter, but in the interest of keeping this a ficlet, I'll split them up. I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think! I appreciate the love I've received so far!