The Baby Dilemma
written by: albe-chan
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction and I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned, I am making no money, and any similarities with real life are purely coincidental. This work will contain MATURE THEMES, such as coarse language, mature subject matter (scenes containing graphic sex, nudity, etc.), and/or violence. Please, if you are not over the age of 18, or of majority in your country, DO NOT READ THIS! You have been warned!
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Chapter Nine - Confessions Pt. II
September turned into a windy October, and as the days fell away, Lily's appetite and belly grew in spades. And as the baby within her grew, she found herself settling into a very comfortable routine and falling victim to her own foolishness. Because with every moment she spent with Scorpius, every appointment they attended together, and meal shared, Hell, even when they were both working silently in his condo, Lily found herself falling more and more for the tall, handsome blond who'd given her the best gift she'd ever gotten with her bean.
"I have a surprise for you," Scorpius said the day before her final gender reveal ultrasound.
"Ooh, what is it?" she asked, hoping it was a new bag of dill pickle crisps, because she was craving them, and there were none to be had in the kitchen. She put her headphones down and turned in her chair, rubbing her massive bump.
"Come and see," he said, looking abnormally pleased with himself. Lily hefted herself up and followed him out the front door and to the elevator.
"Where are we going?" she asked. "Is it far?" She hadn't grabbed a sweater, or proper shoes, and hoped they wouldn't be going out, because she looked like a slob.
"Not far," he said as they got into the elevator. He punched the button for the garage. They descended in silence, and then the lift pinged and the doors slid open. Scorpius lead the way out, Lily following with her slightly waddling gait behind, and paused when he did, then stepped aside and saw what he was staring at. His parking space was lacking its usual sexy, dark blue sportscar, and Lily frowned, because in its place was a silver, four door BMW, with his plates.
"Whose car is this?" she asked with confusion.
"Mine," Scorpius said. She looked up at him and then it hit her. He'd gotten a new car. Or a different car, rather, and this one looked exceptionally baby appropriate.
She blinked back the sting of tears. "Wow," she said softly, and moved forward, looking in through the driver's side door at the interior. And then her heart almost choked her because, in the back seat, she spotted a top of the line carseat, installed and ready, and it was, if she wasn't mistaken, the very one she'd been angling to buy after her pram, because they fit together. "You bought a car seat," she said, eyes filling with tears, and stood up straight again. When she looked at Scorpius he looked a little startled.
"Uh, yes. As far as I'm aware, that's kind of a necessity." He looked her over. "Right?"
The redhead felt her tears starting to fall down her cheeks and sniffled. "Yeah," she choked out, and then started crying in earnest. She was so touched he'd not only actually replaced his car, but then gotten precisely the car seat she had picked herself. And while logically, it seemed perfectly normal, and she was pretty sure this was all hormones, she couldn't help but feel extraordinarily pleased that he'd done something so very big, and probably expensive, just for their bean. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, trying to wipe her eyes. And then she laughed a little at herself.
Scorpius merely stared at her, mouth parted. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be upset," he said hesitantly. Lily laughed some more, certain she looked utterly insane.
"I'm not," she assured him. "I just had a moment. It happens." She wiped her face properly.
The blond was aware she'd been having a moment. It wasn't the first time since she'd temporarily moved in with him that she'd burst into tears for almost no reason. But it still threw him, the abrupt emotional shifts over the littlest things. "So what do you think?" he asked.
She shrugged. "It's a nice car." she moved over to the rear door and opened it, and inspected the car seat. "How did you know what seat to get?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" he asked, because he didn't want to admit he'd gone to the store and admitted his ignorance of what was appropriate, and the sales clerk had pointed him to the one he'd purchased.
"Did you talk to Rose?" she asked, standing up again, impressed the car seat was all installed properly, ready to go.
"Um," he said, because he had, after the fact. Lily grinned.
"I knew it," she said, and closed the car door. "It's the seat that matches my pram," she said. Scorpius nodded, because he'd found that out at the store, and watched Lily move to the trunk. "Can you open this? I want to see if my pram will fit in the boot."
Scorpius barely resisted smiling. "If you insist," he murmured, and moved to the driver's door, popping the boot lid. She lifted it and he looked up just time to see her eyes widen. "It fits, though," he said unnecessarily.
Lily stared down at the baby stroller, wondering how in the hell he'd gotten one. "Where did you find this?" she demanded.
"It was shipped from the manufacturer." She looked up at him, her expression almost angry. "What?"
"You would," she snapped, and all but slammed the boot shut again. "God, you're such a prick," she snarled, and turned away from him and the car, stomping back to the elevator. Scorpius beeped the car locked, although he doubted it would be stolen either way, and followed swiftly after his very pissed baby mama.
"What?" he said again.
"You. Are. A. Fucking. Prick," she said slowly, enunciating each word, and punched the up button on the lift.
Scorpius blinked. "Okay. Why am I a prick today?" he asked.
Lily glared, looking torn between telling him off and keeping her mouth shut and letting him sit in guilty ignorance. "That's my pram, you fucker!" she snapped. "Mine! I've been emailing and calling those fucking twats for weeks, trying to persuade them to even look and see if they had any left in stock, but no, they aren't authorized to do that shit, not for me anyway!" She sucked in a deep breath, chest heaving and looking utterly gorgeous. "And then you just magically get them to fucking ship you one!? That's fucking bullshit!" The blond tried very hard not to smirk. "Don't you fucking dare laugh at me either, Scorpius," she hissed. "If you even crack a smile, I will fucking end you."
"Darling," he said softly.
"No! Don't you try to sweet talk me or distract me with sex you fucker, I'm mad at you!" The lift arrived and they got in, Lily pacing like a caged animal, anger rolling off her in waves, and Scorpius leaning against the mirrored back wall, watching her as they ascended. "I can't believe you did that! Did Rose tell you all about the goddamn pram, too?"
"No," he said.
"Great, great, that's so fucking fantastic. Let me guess, you just stumbled across the thing, then, or what!?"
Scorpius waited to see if she was going to fly off the handle again. She stared at him as though waiting to hear the impossible. "I emailed the manufacturers, told them you'd lost yours in uncontrollable circumstances before you'd even gotten to use it, and they sent that one free of charge. Only, as far as I was told anyway, they didn't actually have the one you wanted, so they sent the deluxe edition one instead."
Lily's mouth fell open, because that made her feel dangerously close to tears again. Had he really gone out of his way to make sure she got her baby carriage back? How am I supposed to not love him!? When she'd gone back to her flat after the fire, and seen all the water damage that had rapidly, in the summer heat, turned into mold damage, she'd wept hardest over her pram. Still in her dining room, the fabric portions all growing a layer of greenish fuzz, and utterly ruined before she'd ever used it. She'd almost considered trying to salvage it, but unlike her baby cot, she knew there was no bloody way she'd ever be able to sanitize it enough to use it. And then Scorpius had gone out of his way to make sure she got, not just her pram, but the upgraded version she hadn't been able to justify buying at the inflated price.
All she could say was, "That's...that really means a lot."
Later that night, Scorpius was meeting Albus for a late dinner after work, hoping to get home to Lily before she fell asleep. She'd seemed, to him anyway, extra emotional that morning before he'd left, and while he understood it was probably hormones, he couldn't help but worry a tiny bit, in the back of his mind, incessantly, nonetheless.
When he got to the restaurant, Albus was already sitting at a table, and the blond sat himself. "I'm not late, am I?" he asked, because normally that was Albus. "Don't tell me you actually showed up early for once."
"No, I'm just starving."
Scorpius just bit back his comment about Potter appetites. "Ditto," he said instead. "Did you order?"
"Of course," Albus replied, smirking. "You always get the same thing."
"Anyway," Scorpius said as dark grey eyes rolled and Albus chuckled, "what's new with you?"
The dark haired man shrugged. "Same shit, different day, unless you're asking romantically, in which case lots, but nothing worth mentioning. You?"
"Same," he sighed. "Press conferences on Monday, back to back all morning, and then I have personal appointments for the afternoon."
Albus smirked. "Shit. I should ask Hugo if he'll be there." Scorpius grimaced, because Hugo Weasley was a nice guy and a vicious journalist.
"Probably." Scorpius was just praying his candidate didn't fall victim to the sharp wit and cunning words of Weasley.
"Hey, you seen Lily lately?" Albus asked, just as the food arrived. Scorpius froze for a guilty beat, then shrugged.
"Uh," he said blandly, as if trying to think.
"She's bloody massive," Albus said, pulling the lettuce off and adding more ketchup to his cheeseburger stacked with fried onions and pickles. "Eats all the bloody time. And I know, growing a baby," the dark haired man said, munching a chip and rolling vibrant green eyes, "but seriously, even after the baby, she's still gonna be massive."
Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "No, she'll probably bounce back," he said politely.
"No way," Albus said, shaking his head. "You can't have seen her recently. And if you did, you wouldn't be able to miss her. She's gonna be a blimp by the end of it all."
The blond bit back the urge to snap that he'd seen her perfectly fucking well the night before, when she'd been naked in his bed, spread out for him to devour at his leisure, and he was fairly fucking certain most, if not all, her weight gain was baby induced. "Maybe," he said vaguely, and tucked into his fish and chips.
He missed the way his friend's green eyes glared at him before Albus bit into his burger. "Y'know," the dark haired man said after awhile, "it's kind of funny, but Lily still hasn't told me who her baby dad is yet. I know, she said she wouldn't, but it's not like my baby sister to keep secrets."
Scorpius swallowed, feeling guilty, and shrugged. "What do you mean? I'm sure she keeps plenty from you. You just don't know it."
Albus shook his head. "Not this long, or something this big," Albus insisted, and sighed, sneaking a look up at a very guilty faced Scorpius.
"Your cousin probably knows," he mumbled, because although this was the perfect opportunity to come clean and admit he was the father of Lily's baby, Scorpius chickened out.
"Who, Rose?" Albus scoffed. "Like she'd tell me. She's pretty much my sister too, her and Lily are so close. I bet she knows, but she'll never tell."
The blond could feel his conscience all but dying in agony, and decided it was now or never. He just had to bite the bullet and fucking do it. "I know who the father of Lily's baby is," he said abruptly, as if commenting on the weather, and Albus blinked.
"How?" he demanded.
Scorpius licked his lips, wishing he hadn't eaten anything, and sucked in a breath. "She told me," he admitted. Albus sat back.
"So who is it?" he demanded, and for a moment, Scorpius's brow furrowed. That wasn't what he'd expected his best friend to say at all. He'd expected, at least, some kind of denial, or anything other than this cool, calm man sitting across from him, giving him an expectant look he found eerily similar to one Lily wore.
Scorpius cleared his throat. "It's me," he said, at last looking Albus in the eye, and saw that his best mate had, somehow, impossibly, already known. How!?
"Congratulations," Albus said calmly. "You're a dead man. But before that pleasant experience, I have to go and have a little chat with my sister. Excuse me." The dark haired man stood up, looking quietly furious, and although Scorpius didn't want to, he knew Albus would be doubly pissed if he went to Lily's flat and didn't find her there.
"I would suggest calling her. She's not at home," he said, braced as if for Albus to punch him. Green eyes widened.
"Because she's where, you motherfucker?" he growled.
Scorpius sat back in his seat, looking up at his friend. He'd only received a look like that from Albus once in the twenty odd years they'd known one another, and it was the time he'd admitted, while stupendously drunk, he sometimes fantasized about shagging his sister. "My place," he said lightly. "Her flat was damaged in a fire, so until her place is decent, she's staying with me."
Albus could only stare. It was a betrayal of the worst kind, because not only had Scorpius, his best mate, gone and apparently shagged his sister, like he'd once mentioned he'd thought about, but said sister had kept a relationship with his best friend a secret. And not just from him, either. "I fucking hate you right now," Albus finally said, and walked out, only the tiniest bit mollified his friend would foot the bill for dinner.
Meanwhile, Lily groaned as she relaxed in a hot, lilac and vanilla scented bubble bath, and the redhead called up Rose to vent. "Hey girl, what's new in the love nest?" Rose asked. Lily's mouth pursed, eyes rolling.
"Stop saying that," she murmured. "And it's going better than I could've expected, all things considered." She sank a bit lower in the tub. "But that's making me grumpy as hell."
Rose laughed. "What? Is my godson messing with your head?"
"You bet," Lily sighed. She rubbed her bump as an elbow dug into her bladder. "If I don't want to cry, I want to scream and throw things." She shifted a little in the warm water. "Or I want to strip Scorpius naked and fuck him into next week," she added in a mumble, cheeks going pink. Rose giggled.
"That part is probably unrelated to my godson," she teased. Lily rolled her eyes again. "But seriously, why is it so bad if Malfoy's being a decent roommate?"
"It's more than that," Lily grumbled. "He's so thoughtful and considerate, and don't get me wrong, I like that, but goddamn it, that's part of the problem!"
There was a pause from Rose. "Honey, you're not making much sense," she said. Lily growled in frustration.
"It's not supposed to be like this!" she snapped. "I'm not supposed to like him, and he makes it fucking impossible not to! Like today, he says he has a surprise, and do you know what he did?" she said.
"I hope it's something like the time you said he practically held you down and used his mouth to-"
"Rose!" Lily sighed, sitting up in the tub. "Focus."
"Sorry. What'd he do now?"
Lily leaned back again. "He shows me his new car." She waited, but Rose didn't respond. "His perfectly respectable, baby-friendly car," she added for emphasis. "And do you know what was in said car?"
"No," Rose said, and Lily could picture her cousin rolling blue eyes, thinking her over dramatic. She scowled.
"A car seat."
"Oh yeah?" Rose said. "He asked me if I knew if you had one, y'know. I said no."
"And did you tell him to get the one I wanted?" she asked.
Rose snorted. "Honey, I only found out after the fact, because he wanted to make sure you wouldn't go get another one. He picked that shit out all on his own." Lily's mouth dropped open.
"Damn him!" she grouched, and her baby kicked hard. "And then you know what else I found out?" she added, feeling her anger growing as she related the story about him getting her a replacement baby stroller and felt a hard lump of emotion in her throat.
"Why is that such a bad thing?" Rose demanded. "It's like complaining about losing five pounds."
"Well I certainly haven't lost five pounds," Lily sighed, because only the stretchiest, loosest items of her wardrobe were actually fitting. "But seriously, it's driving me nuts. He's not supposed to be good at this!"
"At what?" Rose pushed.
"At making me fall in love with him!" Lily snapped. Rose gasped on the other end, but Lily barely heard her. "Like fuck! He's the sweetest guy on the planet, he's the sexiest man alive, and now he's going to be a bloody amazing father, and I don't know how to hate him anymore, Rose, because I've gone and bloody fallen in love with the bastard!"
Her cousin cleared her throat. "You love him," she repeated. Lily clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Says who?" she replied dismissively.
"You did, sweetie," Rose said loftily. "Like ten seconds ago."
Lily thought back, face heating guiltily. "If you tell anyone," she hissed threateningly.
Rose snorted. "First off, everyone would think poor celibate Rose was going nuts," she scoffed. "And secondly, come on. You know I won't," she mumbled.
Lily sighed. "Please don't," she said, rubbing her hand over her face. "I don't want to feel like this, Rose," she said at last. "It's not supposed to happen like this."
"Maybe it is," Rose said lightly, bringing Lily up short. "I mean, look, obviously it wasn't the plan, but could it really be so bad, having a relationship with your baby daddy?"
Lily thought about that, sighing, because she didn't know. "Maybe," she said to Rose, and rang off not too long later, lying back in the tub, rubbing her belly as her baby wriggled and rolled over. There was a knock at the bathroom door just as her cell rang. "Hang on," she said aloud, lifting herself out of the tub, reaching for her phone and a towel at the same time.
"Lily, don't pick up the phone," Scorpius said through the door. She frowned, putting her towel around herself, and checked the display. It was Albus.
"Why?" she demanded, opening the door. Scorpius's dark grey eyes roved over her. Her phone kept ringing.
"Albus is calling to yell at you."
She frowned some more at that, feeling her temper flare, and grunted. "Really?" she snapped. "Good. I need a good shouting match," she said blandly, and clicked her phone on just before it went to voicemail. "Hello, brother of mine," she said lightly by way of answering. Scorpius grimaced.
"Hello my sister, the traitor," he said darkly. She smiled, bending to pull the plug on her bath, and waddled out to the kitchen for a snack.
"That's awfully harsh."
Albus snorted. "Not really," he said, and she could picture him sneering.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you talked to Scorpius," she said softly, and grabbed a bag of crisps. They weren't dill pickle, but they were salty and crunchy and close enough.
"He talked, I listened," Albus snapped. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. Lily frowned.
"Why would I have told you? I'm not your best mate."
"No, but you are my little sister. I've known you longer than Scor."
She shrugged, munching down on some fried potato. "So?" she asked, mouth full. "If you knocked up one of my best friends, I'd want her to tell me, not you," she said defensively.
"When are you going to tell Mum and Dad?" Albus demanded. "And what about Gran and the Weasleys? Do you think they're going to be pleased to know there's a half-Malfoy in the family now?"
Lily shrugged again, but felt her anger starting to ramp up. "I don't care if they're pleased," she snapped. "And of course I'm going to tell Mum and Dad." She shifted. "When the time is right."
Albus snorted. "Are you going to tell them everything, Lily?" he demanded.
She swallowed, pausing with another crisp halfway to her mouth. "Everything they need to know."
"You don't think they need to know you're living with him?" Albus drawled, and Lily grit her teeth. "Come on, Lily. I'm not an idiot. You're probably shagging him rotten still, aren't you?"
"Fuck you, Albus, that's none of your business," she growled.
"But probably a yes," he said, sounding disgusted.
"Why are you mad at this?" the redhead demanded. "We haven't done a thing wrong, and I'd have thought you'd be pleased I'm not doing this shit by myself anymore," she said, voice wobbling. The redhead couldn't help recalling Albus, after first hearing the news she was pregnant, later voicing his concerns that she'd be a single parent, and the stress of such being too much. Lily had thought, at the time, he was trying to get her to reconcile with whoever the father was, which she supposed she had sort of done. Now he sounded like a damn hypocrite in her opinion.
"He's my best mate! This isn't supposed to happen!" Lily almost laughed, because she was having her own internal struggle over just that.
"Well it's kind of happening regardless," she said firmly. "So you can either handle it, or butt out, really."
Albus sighed in a long suffering sort of way. "Now you sound like Rose," he mumbled.
"What?" Lily said sharply. Has Rose been blabbing to him!?
"Nothing," Albus said darkly. "But I'm still mad at you. You knew the longest, and you could've told me," he insisted, and Lily felt a stab of guilt, because that was true.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, eating a potato chip. Albus snorted.
"It would be more effective if you weren't eating when you said it," he grumbled. Lily grinned.
"Sorry," she mumbled again, mouth half full.
"You're forgiven," he said instantly, and she almost laughed again. But then he added, sounding pleased with himself, "If only because I get to watch you tell Mum and Dad at Sunday dinner. That should be a riot. Because if you won't, I will."
Lily blanched. "I fucking hate you," she said softly, then hung up as Albus laughed at her. Scorpius was hovering, looking uneasy.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly, dark grey eyes all concern, mouth a taut line.
She snorted. "I'm going to kill my brother, but other than that, sure."
His gaze roved lower, and she realized she was still only in the towel. "Are you going to get dressed?" he asked.
She crammed in another crisp and shook her head. "Unh uh. I'm going to bed." Scorpius frowned a bit at that, as though wondering why he'd mentioned it. "Want to come with?" she asked, and undid her towel, still holding it around herself.
"You bet, darling."
"Good." She dropped the towel and his cock sprang to attention in his pants. "I'm feeling kind of riled up, and it's easier to fall asleep with you," she admitted, then bit her tongue too late, feeling stupid. But Scorpius didn't comment as they went to her bedroom, and he quickly divested himself of clothing. Within moments, words became unnecessary altogether for Lily, for which she was grateful, and fell asleep soundly after a long, thorough shag.
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