A/N: Wow, thank you for being so supportive of the last chapter. I wasn't sure how everyone would react to the "twist." Thanks, once again, for your awesome reviews.

Disclaimer: All characters (except Caroline) belong to JKR.

Chapter 10

Blaise took the tumbler away from Draco. The bottle of firewhiskey was almost empty.

"How many of these have you had?" Blaise asked.

"Not enough," was Draco's reply.

They both sat in silence outside on Draco's balcony. Draco had his feet propped up on the railing.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" He was referring to the memory, of course. He had never seen Draco so shaken up over anything before.

Draco closed his eyes as he replayed the day for Blaise. His voice cracked a couple of times when he got to the part about the rape. He couldn't get her pleas out of his head.

Blaise sat there in shock. "Wow, that's some pretty fucked up shit." He poured them each another drink.

Draco covered his eyes with his palms and groaned. "How can Granger ever forgive me for what I did to her?"

"There's nothing to forgive. Quit beating yourself up over something you had no control over. You both were Lucius' victims." Blaise lit a cigarette. "Look, what your father did was seriously twisted. He's to blame – not you. You can't go back and change anything. You need to get past this, move forward and take care of your daughter."

Draco knew what Blaise was saying was true, but the remorse and guilt was overpowering.

"So what happens now? What are you going to tell Caroline?"

"Tell me what?" Caroline was standing behind them in the doorway. She was in her pajamas holding Daisy, her pink dragon.

"How long have you been standing there?" asked Blaise.

"Not long. I couldn't sleep. What are you two talking about, Draco?" She crawled up on Draco's lap and lay back on his chest with her head just below his chin. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. How could anything smell so sweet?

It was killing him that she called him 'Draco.' "Your birthday is coming up soon. We were just talking about that," he lied. "What do you want for your birthday? Maybe a party?"

He heard sniffing and felt wetness from her tears on his shirt. "No, I just want my mum back." She wiped her nose on his shirt.

"You're mum will get better soon. We're working on a special potion that will help wake her up."

"What if she never wakes up? What if she dies? I'll be an orphan," she sobbed.

Could anything rip out his heart any more? "Don't worry about that, Cupcake. You'll never be alone. You're mum will get better. Besides, you have me…and Blaise."

That seemed to make her feel better. She sat up and looked back and forth between Draco and Blaise. She had a puzzled look on her face.

"Are you two gay?"

Blaise spit out his firewhiskey and coughed. "Shit, where did that come from?"

"Just wondering." She shrugged her shoulders.

"No, we're not gay," Draco laughed. "Far from it."

"Well good. Then Blaise can be my boyfriend." Caroline clapped her hands.

This time Draco choked. "What?"

"Oh, Darlin', you wouldn't want me for a boyfriend." Blaise winked at her. "I have really bad habits. I smoke, I drink, I leave the toilet seat up…" Caroline giggled.

"Yeah, and see how hairy he is? He sheds all the time. Plus, he's not good enough for you." Draco smirked.

Blaise grinned and was about to give Draco the finger.

"Zabini, don't you dare give me the one-finger salute. See what I mean, Caroline? No class, that one."

"Draco! Draco!" Caroline whispered in Draco's ear as he was sleeping. "Get up! We need to get ready to go see Mummy." She shook his shoulder back and forth trying to get him to wake up.

Draco groggily rolled over in his bed and looked at the clock. "Caroline, it's only 5:30. Go back to bed." After what happened the day before, he was beyond exhausted and needed every minute of sleep he could get.

Yesterday. The day that changed his life forever. He was a father. Her father. It was too surreal and too hard for him to wrap his head around the thought. On one hand, he was elated to find out he was Caroline's father. Now that he knew, he kept thinking of the similarities between them. Not just the hair and eyes, but her temperament, her curiosity, her propensity to get into mischief. On the other hand, he was wrought with guilt at the circumstances in which she was conceived. Draco had done many, many bad things in the past, but nothing compared to this.

He promised Caroline that she could go see her mother today. This was the third time Caroline woke him up that night. To say that she was excited to see her mum was an understatement.

Finally Draco got up around 7:00 and started to stumble toward his bedroom door. He silently cursed at himself as he realized he was wearing only his boxers. Before he went outside his room, he put on some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn't alone anymore.

He headed toward the kitchen where Trixie had his coffee ready and The Daily Prophet waiting for him, when out the corner of his eye he saw Caroline sitting in the living room. He had to do a double-take. She was sitting quietly in the chair by the fireplace. Her curly white-blond hair was adorned with a pink ribbon. She had on her best dress – pink with white daisies on them. In her lap was her little pink purse. She wore white socks with lace around the edge and black patent leather shoes. She was absentmindedly swinging her legs back and forth.

"Aren't you ready yet, Draco? We got to get going."

He rolled his eyes. "Caroline, it's too early to go to the hospital. Come in here and have some breakfast. Trixie is fixing some pancakes for you."

"I can't eat anything. I might get something on my dress."

"You won't get anything on your dress. If you do, we'll just go out and get you another one."

"But, this is my mummy's favorite dress. I'm wearing it just for her."

"Caroline, I promise you nothing will happen to your dress. Now just get your arse in here and eat." Draco really didn't want to start his day arguing with her.

After he had his shower and was dressed, Draco sat down next to Caroline. "Now, I have a little gift for you." Out of one of the pockets of his robes he pulled out a small velvet box and gave it to Caroline.

She opened it to find a small tennis-type bracelet with alternating diamonds and pink sapphires.

Her eyes got wide. "Wow, that's for me?"

Draco took the bracelet from the box and put it around Caroline's tiny wrist. "I know you like pink so I got this for you to wear all the time. I don't want you to take it off." He touched his wand to the clasp and made it disappear so that the bracelet wouldn't fall off.

"Oh, I'll never take it off! It's so pretty. Thank you!"She reached up and gave him a hug and a kiss. She moved her wrist back and forth to see the little jewels sparkle in the light.

"You're welcome. Now you have your own jewels and don't have to bug Blaise about his," he chuckled.

She giggled. "Yeah, you can see mine. His are hidden in his pants."

Unbeknownst to Caroline, the bracelet was charmed to be a tracking device. At any time, Draco could find her whereabouts. He wasn't going to risk anything happening to her while she was in his care. Blaise thought Draco was being paranoid and teased him that he should just microchip her ear like a dog. Maybe he was being a little extreme, but he wasn't taking chances with the most important person in his life.

They visited the flower shop close to the hospital. The shop and greenhouse had flowers and plants of every variety imaginable. Caroline looked around wide-eyed. "Wow, this is like a paradise. Can I pick out Mummy's flowers?"

"Sure, knock yourself out."

She didn't know where to start. There were plants everywhere…floor, walls and ceiling. Most of the plants had their common name. But several of the plants had a long funny name as well. "What are these words above the names?"

The florist walked over to where Caroline was pointing.

"Oh, those are the plants' genus and species. It's kind of their fancy name, as you might say. I haven't labeled all of them yet, but it's a fun little project." She smiled down at Caroline. "Now, look around and let me know if you have any questions."

"Can you help me with some of these words, Draco?" She grabbed his hand started pulling him in one direction.

"Okay, let's see. I don't even know if I can pronounce these names. Echinacea Purpurea – Purple Coneflower; Hedychium Coronarium – Butterfly Lily; Lavandula Angustifolia – English Lavender – these are tough."

"This Pansy doesn't have a fancy name on it, Draco." She was pointing to a grouping of multi-colored pansies.

"That one's easy. Bitchium Totalius."

The bell above the door made a tinkling sound. Pansy Parkinson entered the shop. She immediately saw Draco and Caroline and casually walked over to them.

"Well, what do we have here? Draco and little Miss Malfoy." Caroline was too busy looking at all the beautiful flowers, that she didn't hear Pansy.

Draco turned slowly. "Speaking of the she-devil herself. Out trolling around for unsuspecting victims?"

"Why, Draco dear, you should be nicer to me. I'm having lunch with my good friend, Rita Skeeter. I'm sure she'll be interested in knowing all about the newest family addition."

"Draco, what is she doing here?" Caroline scowled at Pansy. In her hand was a bouquet of daisies she chose to take to her mother.

Pansy bent down. "Is the wittle girl wooking at the pwetty fwowers?" She was making fun of Caroline's speech problem.

"Wow, Parkinson, you've reached an all time low picking on a little kid. No one your own size left to bully?"

Caroline's face got red. She eyed a plant with long vines. With a wiggle of her finger, the vines came to life and headed toward Pansy's neck, about to choke her. Draco noticed the moving vines, looked at Caroline and shook his head. The vines stopped and dropped to the ground. Caroline stuck out her bottom lip and pouted.

Pansy was oblivious to what just about happened. "You know, Draco, you and I could have been good together. Everyone thought we made the best couple and would eventually get married. But, no, you'd rather be with that filthy mudblood. I'll make sure that everyone knows about your dirty little secret," Pansy spat. Now Draco wished that the vines where tightly wrapped around her neck.

If she only knew the truth, she could really cause a lot of problems. But luckily for Draco, he knew something that he could hang over her head.

"I'm sure Rita would also be interested to let the Wizarding community know that you don't have a pot to piss in. Your father gambled away the Parkinson family fortune. I believe I'm the only who knows outside your family, and maybe Blaise. Once word gets out, you will never be invited to another social function again, and you can kiss marrying a rich wizard goodbye." He had a satisfied sneer on his face.

For the first time, Pansy was speechless. She just stood there seething with anger. Draco paid for the flowers Caroline picked out, grabbed her hand and headed toward the door. Caroline stopped and turned back to look at Pansy. She reached in her little pink purse and took out two coins and handed them to Draco. He knew what was coming and handed the coins back to her. "No, Cupcake, she's not worth it."

Draco held her hand as they proceeded to leave. Caroline looked up at him to make sure he wasn't watching her. She looked back over her shoulder and gave Pansy the one-finger salute.