Thanx to everyone who has been reviewing, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately this may be the last chapter for a while, usually I'm in the middle of the next chapter or so, but this time I'm not. Please be patient and enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 10
TOM
Three years later
"Tom can you come help me with this?" Sophie hollered down the stairs.
"I'm coming." She could hear his pounding footsteps as he climbed the stairwell. "What do you need?"
"Help me move the bed."
"You're rearranging again?" he asked, in disbelief. "And aren't you a witch, shouldn't you be able to do this on your own?"
"I could, but this seems to be the only way to get your attention," she aid smirking. "Now lift your end and help me move it over here."
He rolled his eyes and obeyed. They moved the bed about three feet over to the left. Tom noticed that they had moved it back to the same place it had been a week ago. He sighed, slightly amused by her inability to make up her mind.
"What do you mean that this is the only way to my attention?" he asked, sitting on the bed.
"Well ever since we came to Albania you've been so busy with your work that I rarely see you." She sat down next to him and rushed a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. "What is it that you're working on anyways?"
"I'm researching many things, such as some very old magic," he explained. "I do know one thing you can do to get my attention."
"Oh?" she asked as he leaned closer to her and kissed her neck suggestively. "And that would be?"
"I think you know," he said kissing her, and pushing them further onto the bed.
XXXXXXXX"Sophie, I'm back!" Tom hollered as he entered the house. "Sorry I was gone so long, my research took longer than expected…"
Tom stopped realizing that he was talking to no one. He searched the house, which didn't take very long. He then looked around for a note, upon not finding her he sat down on a chair in the kitchen. Where could she be? It wasn't like her to just leave; she usually left some kind of note or something.
XXXXXXXX"My Lord we caught her snooping around. What do you want us to do with her?" asked a burly looking man as he threw a young woman to the ground.
"I'll deal with her. Leave us," Tom commanded without looking up. He heard the man open and shut the door, but he still didn't look up from his work.
"Tom?" He whipped around to see that the girl was Sophie. Even though it had only been a few weeks since he'd seen her, she was dramatically changed. She was a lot paler, had dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed to be extremely weak.
"Tom, who are all these men?" she asked, shakily pushing herself up.
"What are you doing here? I was under the impression that you left," he said coldly.
"No, I didn't leave," she said, flinching at his tone.
"Huh, that's odd, I was gone for two days and when I came back you were gone. What do you call that?"
"Someone, a friend of my parents recognized me when I went into town, obviously my parents have been looking for me. They took me back to England, where my parents tried to convince me to marry David. When they found out that I was married to you—and that I refused to leave you—they disowned me. That was a week after I was taken," she paused, looking at him fearfully. Even though he was angry, he couldn't stand to see her afraid of him. He got up and pulled her to him, holding her tightly and kissing the top of her head. He noticed that she seemed tired and led them over to a couch that was haphazardly pushed against the wall.
"What took you so long to came home?" he asked, after they had sat there a while.
"I thought that I was sick, so I went to St. Mungo's." She gave him a nervous look before continuing, "Tom, I'm pregnant.
"What?" he asked taken aback. He saw her eyes fill worry and fear, causing him to regret his words.
"What I meant was that's great," he said, smiling and stroking her face lovingly.
"Really?"
"Really."
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, letting her words settle in. He was going to be a father. Him, a father; that was something he thought he'd never be. A part of him really was happy, but he was mostly shocked and confused. He hugged her even tighter, hoping that he wouldn't her down.
XXXXXXXXThe pregnancy was difficult on both of them, physically and emotionally. Tom was always busy either with his research to conquer death or taking care of Sophie, who wasn't faring too well. As her pregnancy progressed she became weaker and weaker, which only fueled Tome to finish his research; after six months she was bedridden. Tom was nervous about becoming a father, but he did his best to hide it from Sophie; she didn't need the added stress. Finally, after nine long, stressful months, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. But the birth wasn't an easy one: she almost didn't survive. She did recover, but she was regained her old strength.
They named the baby Caleb Thomas Riddle. He was a strong, happy baby, hardly gave them any trouble at all; which was good, Tom couldn't stand babies crying. He had his hair and complexion, but Tom's piercing dark eyes. Sophie loved their son immediately, Tom did too, it just took him a while to get used to Caleb. They often talked about having another kid, but Tom was afraid that Sophie wouldn't survive another pregnancy.
"Tom?" Sophie was sitting on the floor playing with Caleb, who was almost tow. Tom was half-working, half-watching, amused by his wife's crazy antics around Caleb.
"Yes love?"
"What if we adopted another child? Not now obviously, that would be chaos, but maybe in a few years?" she said, reaching out to catch Caleb. He giggled not understanding that his mother had saved him from a nasty head bump.
"Hey Caleb," Tom said moving to sit with them on the floor. Caleb turned his attention to his father and crawled over into his lap. "Would you like a little brother or sister?"
"Yeah," he said nodding his head.
"Well, there's your answer," Tom said smiling at his wife. She rested her head on his shoulder and intertwined their fingers. Caleb stood up in his father's lap and started playing with his face.
Sophie smirked. "That's a good look for you."
"Thank you," he said, picking Caleb up and setting him in Sophie's lap. "Maybe I'll cast a spell to rearrange it that way."
"Oh, please do," she said sarcastically. "Say goodnight to Daddy, Caleb."
"Dada, night," Caleb said in his cute baby gibberish. Tom kissed his forehead, and watched as Sophie carried him to his room.
Later that night Sophie was sitting up in bed waiting for Tom to return from putting Caleb down. He sat down on the bed and sighed.
"He's asleep, it was probably just a bad dream."
"Thanks, Tom," she said, moving closer to him.
"Why are you still awake? You should be sleeping," Tom said concerned.
"I was listening to you calm him down, it was sweet and soothing," she said smiling at him. "I can't believe you were nervous about being a father."
"Well, if you remember it wasn't ever in my plans to have a family, at least not before you."
He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest.
"Sophie, I love you and Caleb. You know that, right?"
"Of course, I know that," she said sitting up. "Tom if something happens to me—"
"Nothing's going to happen to you," he said forcefully. He sat up, held her hands, and looked at her in the eyes. "You're going to be fine."
"You heard he doctors, this is serious. Now, if anything should happen, promise me that you will take care of Caleb," she pleaded.
"Promise."
"Thank you."
"You're going to be fine," Tom said again, taking her in his arms. "We just have to find a cure and you'll be all right."
"Tom, I love that you're thinking positive, but neither the muggle or wizard doctors know what is wrong with me."
Tom remained silent, but stubbornly continued to think that he could save her. He couldn't, and wouldn't, live without her. She kept his life balanced. She loved him, despite all his faults. Without Sophie, his life would be a black abyss.
XXXXXXXXSophie lived until Caleb was four. Her health had deteriorated to the point where she was confined to bed. Tom could tell that she was weak, but she tried not to show it as not to worry Caleb. Tom spent most of his time with her.
She died peacefully on a winters' night. Tom buried her outside near the garden, her favorite place. He thought about writing her parents, but never did. One of the hardest things was explaining the whole situation to Caleb, who didn't understand where his mum was and why she couldn't play. For a while Tom couldn't even look at Caleb, without seeing Sophie. However, he soon forced himself to push past that in order to keep his promise to Sophie. He raised Caleb how she would have, except he never sent him to Hogwarts; he felt that it was better if he didn't.
Caleb grew up to be a very smart and good-looking young man. He knew everything that Tom knew, which depending on Caleb's current attitude could be good or bad for others. Even though Tom tried to keep Caleb out of his affairs; Caleb, wanting to make his father proud became a Death Eater. However, when Caleb was twenty-six, he told his father that he was in love with a muggle girl, that they were going to have a baby, and that he no longer agreed with Tom's methods.
At first Tom was furious, his own son had betrayed him! Later Tom regretted being so angry, in order to keep his unborn child and its mother safe, Caleb had taken them into hiding and Tom had lost all contact with him. He knew Sophie would have been disappointed with him. He, eventually, regained contact with Caleb, when the child, a girl, was about six months old…and then he lost power.
Sometimes, late at night, Voldemort cold her Caleb and Sophie begging him to stay away form the Dark Arts.
I know it's kind of sucky, but please review anyways. PLEASE