AN: A short chapter here, sorry for the wait! It all kicks off again soon I promise! Just bare with me and enjoy! Thank you to all my reviewers and everyone who has favourited and followed the story. You keep me going!
Months passed and life was, supposedly, as normal as it ever had been for the pureblood families; Lestrange and Malfoy. New Year had come and gone without as much as a whiff of a scandal in the air. None that anybody cared to admit anyway. The first few months of the new decade went by smoothly indeed; almost too much so to be normal. Lucius had spent barely any time with his sister-in-law who had moved back in with her husband a week or two before Christmas. There had been some concern at first, mostly from Narcissa, but it wasn't as if Bellatrix was one for letting a man control her for too long a time. She had to get back on the top of the food chain at some point and that she had. The most time in the past few months Lucius and Bellatrix had spent together had been helping, sometimes reluctantly, to sort out the Malfoys' manor for the arrival of the blonde sister's firstborn.
Narcissa stood in the nursery-to-be inspecting the freshly painted walls – emerald green – and childproof whatnots that she had insisted on buying for her baby, a hand resting on the large bump now protruding from her middle. Lucius entered the room and cleared his throat politely to draw her attention to the cup of sweet tea he had brought for her. It was true he hadn't made the tea himself, the house elf did all the 'common' jobs in the house, but still all Cissy's thanks were received by her husband. He smiled to see her practically glowing in joy as she sipped from the china cup delicately, her hand still mindlessly caressing her swollen stomach.
"It's going to be a perfect nursery, don't you think?" she asked with a smile, breaking his daze. He nodded in reply, returning her warm smile. She took another careful sip and placed the cup down on a temporary collapsible table not far from where she stood.
An early spring sun was beginning to set outside. The warmth from the changing seasons was welcomed in the evenings from the Malfoys as was no different in most homes across the country. Lucius pressed a gentle, loving kiss to his wife's pink lips and placed a hand gently on her bump. Narcissa cupped Lucius' cheek and smiled with her entire expression toward him.
"I love you, Lucius," she said simply yet so very affectionately it almost brought a tear to her eye. She was so overjoyed at the situation she was in it was beyond words for her to describe it. Lucius, having forgotten all the guilt and scandal he'd been caught up in that could have hurt this gorgeous, siren of a woman, brushed her rosy cheek with the back of his knuckles in an affectionate gesture before answering as any husband should, "I love you too."
Their lips met once again, passion and love for each other seeping from every molecule of their being. If Lucius could have hit a pause button on his life, this was the moment he would choose. Utter perfection. That's what she was. That's what they were. Together they had created the dream pureblood marriage.
As they slept that night, they slept peacefully. Lucius had forgotten all about Bellatrix. Just as it should be. He knew he would be able to do it. He loved Narcissa too much to let anything ruin their marriage. He told himself this. He told himself over and over again. I love Narcissa… Bellatrix is simply my sister-in-law… She's nobody… I want Narcissa more than I'd ever want Bellatrix… I do not love Bellatrix… He continued to think like this for months to come as Narcissa's due date came closer and closer. Spring passed and slowly merged into summer.
I do not love Bellatrix…
Still he told himself this and still, he felt the twist in his gut that told him that was a complete and utter lie.
