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 Eleven - Hot and Cold

Scorpius sat up, hearing someone prowling through his kitchen. He assumed it was Lily, and swung his legs out of bed, pulling on some pyjama pants quickly to cover his nudity. When he shuffled into the kitchen, smothering a yawn, he indeed found Lily, her very large belly protruding from under the hem of her lime green tank top and he felt his cock twitch when he saw her erect nipples poking out proudly as she stood before the refrigerator. She rubbed her belly, staring at the contents of the fridge, and sighed.

"Why are you awake?" he asked roughly. The microwave declared it two forty seven. She looked round, startled, and then smiled sheepishly.

"I had a dream about eating, and woke up starving. But I don't know what to eat." Scorpius smirked a little bit, surprised she hadn't gone to the cupboard for crisps. He was pretty sure she was addicted to the dill pickle flavoured ones, because they magically disappeared from the cupboard and then appeared in grocery bags when Lily came back from walks or tea with Rose.

"What were you eating in your dream?" he asked curiously.

"Peanut butter and chocolate ice cream bars," she said, and rubbed her belly again. "Probably because I finished off the box this morning after breakfast." Scorpius hummed, mesmerized by the lazy circle her small hand traced across her belly, and he watched the distended bump wobble. Lily groaned. "He's getting too big," she sighed. Dark grey eyes rolled, because Lily was still convinced the baby was a boy, despite no evidence, because every ultrasound, the baby hadn't cooperated. "Do we have those ice cream sandwiches left?"

"Yes," Scorpius said, and Lily beamed, opening the freezer and looking for the box.

"Where?" she demanded, lifting onto her tippy toes to look in the back, shifting a few things around. Scorpius didn't know, but he moved closer to look, if only so Lily could have her snack and they could go back to bed. Preferably together.

"Right here," he said, lifting the slightly dented box from the back, out from under the bag of frozen peas.

"Mmm," she said in anticipation, taking the box and ripping it open, pulling out her frozen treat. Scorpius privately thought the same, except about her. He smoothed his hands over her very large bump, trying not to be as aroused as he was. The blond couldn't fathom it, but somehow seeing and feeling their baby inside her was the biggest turn on, and the plump ripeness that radiated out around her luscious body was the proverbial cherry on top. Especially her delicious, full, always hard nippled breasts. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked, holding her half-eaten ice cream sandwich aloft, smiling confusedly.

"It's hard not to," he mumbled, watching her lick the ice cream that oozed out the side of her treat.

"Now I know what ice cream bars feel like when they see me coming," she teased.

He grinned, feeling sleepy and horny and thoroughly in love with the amazing woman growing their child. "Lucky ice cream bars," Scorpius murmured, and the redhead blushed.

"Stop," she said softly and with almost no conviction, then took out another ice cream sandwich, and put the rest back, closing up the fridge and freezer at last. "This should hit the spot," she said, tearing the plastic off, and Scorpius grinned as she hummed her enjoyment, leaning against the marble countertop.

"See what I mean?" he murmured, moving in close. He bent his head to kiss her neck persuasively, and curved himself around their baby, grabbing her plump arse. She tilted her neck to afford him better access, still eating her ice cream sandwich. "They get the sexy, determined, 'I'm going to devour you' looks and they get to make you sigh and groan and hit your spots."

Her blush deepened, hard nipples aching pleasurably. "Mmm, you get other things," she said huskily. He grunted, slipping his hands inside pyjama pants she'd nicked from him and commandeered as her own, grabbing handfuls of ass, loving her gasp of delight.

"This is true," he rumbled, kissing her thundering pulse. Even if that wasn't quite as much as he'd like, because he wanted all of her. He pulled back to look at her, and she lifted the last bite of ice cream sandwich into her mouth, a dollop of vanilla ice cream dropping onto her cleavage.

"Shoot," she murmured, licking the chocolate cookie residue from her fingers, and Scorpius, before she could move to get the ice cream wiped up, dipped his head and licked it off the luscious curve of her breast.

"Yum," he groaned, achingly hard.

"Unh," she grunted, and pulled him forward roughly, crashing their mouths together. Scorpius groaned, because their teeth kind of clicked together painfully, but then she was suckling his lower lip, nibbling it erotically, and he was lost. "Bedroom?" she panted when he broke away at last.

"Too far," Scorpius said decisively, and shoved her pants down, then lifted her up onto the counter, tugging her tank top down to lavish her breasts greedily with his mouth. Lily moaned, clutching him, and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer. The baby kept him too far for her liking and she growled her frustration. The sound turned into a yelp when his fingers caressed her through her panties and then slipped inside. "Fuck, Lily, please tell me you want this, darling," he groaned, and Lily almost laughed.

"I really want this," she breathed, and reached down and grasped his cock through his pyjama pants, stroking teasingly. He moaned, then pushed her hand away.

"If you keep doing that, you're not going to get the full experience of that," he growled, and then kissed her ravenously, even as she gripped him harder on instinct.

"Mmm, I wouldn't want that to happen," she purred, and released him, moving to nip his pulse point, eliciting another growl of approval. He pulled roughly at her sensitive nipples and she cried out. "And it's not going to happen if you don't hurry up," she added, laying back on the countertop.

"Don't worry, darling, I won't disappoint."

Lily was far from disappointed when he finished with her, after getting her off twice, and the redhead gulped, because it had been almost impossible that time, to hold back the urge to tell him she loved him. He was, as Rose had pointed out what felt like forever ago, the perfect baby daddy, and also so much more on top of that. He was considerate, and thoughtful, and organized, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she really couldn't have asked for anyone better to co-parent with her. And even though she hadn't asked, it made her feel better that Scorpius would be able to work with her, opposed to the one thing she hoped to prevent.

"Now it's time for the bedroom," Scorpius murmured, and Lily finally slid off the counter, and waddled ahead of him. With only six weeks left to go, the redhead was starting to feel the strain of childbearing, and was looking forward to holding her bean. Even if they still didn't know the gender. She moved automatically to her room, and smiled a little when Scorpius followed her. And the moment she laid her head down on the pillow, Lily fell into a deep, sated sleep.

Lily laid in the comforting embrace of a strong male arm that circled her baby bump protectively when she awoke the next morning, and sighed, feeling utterly at peace and thoroughly content. And, to shatter the blissful moment, her baby kicked her full bladder, hard, and she lurched upright with the urge to pee. She was half out of bed when the sharp contraction around her belly gripped her, scaring her more than anything, and although it faded, Lily was sent instantly into panic mode. "Oh my God, oh my God, Scorpius, get up, now!" she growled. The blond grunted in his sleep. The redhead felt anger jolt through her, and she punched the sexy, sleeping blond hard in the abdomen. "Scorpius!"

"What?" he said, frowning, and dark grey eyes opened blearily.

"I just had a contraction."

For a moment, the blond just stared at her, looking confused as to where they were, what she was talking about, and, if possible, why he'd been punched awake. And then, in an instant, she saw it all click together in his brain. His eyes went wide, jaw dropping, and sat up. "What?' he said. "When?"

"Just now," she said, feeling her anxiety peaking as she could see the blond starting to freak out himself.

"How long was it? Was it bad? Isn't it too early for all this? Should we call an ambulance?" Suddenly his eyes went huge. At least more huge than they'd been. "Holy shit, you have to go to a hospital, we can't have a baby here," he said.

Lily grimaced. "I don't think there's going to be any baby anytime soon," she said, and sucked in a breath. Obviously she would have to be the calm, cool, collected one. "It might be false labour, but I don't know. I've never done this before."

Scorpius frowned. "Better safe than sorry," he said sternly, and slid out of bed. Lily rubbed her bump.

"Scorpius, relax, my water hasn't even broken," she said logically.

The blond shook his head. "No time to waste." Hazel eyes rolled, because now, with nothing else forthcoming she felt silly for freaking out and waking him up in the first place.

"Well, have fun driving yourself to the hospital, because I'm not going," she said lightly. "And," she said, getting up properly and moving toward the bathroom, "even if my water does break, I'll probably still have loads of time."

Scorpius pushed both hands through his hair and took a deep breath. "Lily," he said, following her into the loo, even as she sat on the toilet, "this really isn't the time to be stubborn and bullheaded. If you're going into labour, we need to get you to a hospital."

"Scorpius," she replied, sending him a dirty look and mimicking his tone of forced calm, "I'm not in labour. It was probably just because I moved the wrong way. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." She rolled her eyes, because she could feel the blond's agitation, even from four feet away.

"Humour me," he said. Lily did roll her eyes now. "At least call the doctor, then."

"The office isn't even open yet," Lily said dismissively as she stood up off the toilet. "It's Friday," she added. Because she'd had her second, loathable glucose test on Wednesday, and that was two days ago. "How about we compromise by you Googling the crap out of whatever you think I need to be rushed to the hospital for, because I'm fairly positive I'm not in labour, and if you can show me sufficient evidence that it's necessary, I'll go."

"That hardly seems fair," Scorpius said, scowling slightly, but indeed, pulled out his phone and started searching up false labour.

A few hours later, after Scorpius had perused just about every webpage he could find, and read up, extensively, on false labour, and nothing more had come after Lily's initial contraction, he'd accepted she was probably right, and real labour wasn't imminent. So, with a kiss from his redheaded lover and the mother of his, as yet, unborn child, Scorpius set off, still feeling edgy, to an early lunch with his two best mates. While he was still on slightly unsettled terms with Albus, Scorpius knew Chris would be the perfect buffer, allowing them to, at least momentarily, unite in belittling the dark haired European when his mouth would undoubtedly get a foot or two shoved in it. Chris was already there when he got to the restaurant.

"You look like shit," Scorpius said, because he could see his close friend had obviously been out drinking the night before in his red eyes and yesterday's five o'clock shadow. Chris merely grinned.

"You look like the proverbial cat who got the cream," he shot back. "And speaking of which, how is Little Potter?"

Scorpius frowned as he sat, tempted to tell Chris to go fuck himself. Instead, he said blandly, "She's well," and tried not to think how much he almost loathed that nickname he and Albus and Chris had hung upon Lily for the sole fact she'd been the green eyed man's little sister.

Chris's eyes crinkled and he smirked. "Then again, from what I hear, she's not so little anymore."

The blond man couldn't help but smile the tiniest bit smugly at that. "In the best way."

"Oh no, from what I hear she's almost as big as a house." Scorpius scowled, and then Albus entered the restaurant, and Chris waved to him. "And unless you want a black eye, you probably shouldn't mention, to Al anyway, that you've fallen for her," he added sagely.

Before Scorpius, who couldn't help but reveal his surprise in lifted brows, could reply, Albus said loudly, "You two look like you're having a bad first date."

"You'd be the expert on those," Chris quipped and Scorpius forced himself to be normal, even if he couldn't help but wonder how his friend had figured it out and worry Albus might do the same.

"Apparently now I am," Albus said, giving Scorpius a darkly significant look as he sat down. The blond simply shrugged.

"You gents ready to order?" asked a bubbly waitress before the silence could get uncomfortable. The relief was palpable.

"You bet, gorgeous," Chris replied, and orders were placed for beers and burgers. An hour and a half later, after Scorpius and Albus had tag teamed Chris into submission, teasing him about his lack of a date for the weekend, and speculating playfully about how he'd end up old and perverted alone someday, the blond felt on much better terms with his best mate. And, after a few token jibes, Albus had seemed to be over the fact Scorpius was having his filthy way with his little sister after knocking her up.

In fact, as they parted ways outside, he merely said, "Tell Lily I said hi."

All in all, Scorpius was in a decidedly good mood as he made his way back to his condo, and even smiled to himself a little as he went up the elevator. He unlocked his front door, and paused, because something felt off. He went to hang up his coat and put his shoes away when he realized Lily's boots and coat were missing.

He frowned, wondering where she could've gone, and moved into the kitchen to see if she'd left a note, which was her habit if she went out when he was expected back, and frowned, because there was nothing. The kitchen was spotless, as if his cleaning lady had come, and the blond frowned some more, moving into the living room. He still felt as though something weren't right.

And then, as he stood in the middle of his living room, looking at everything in its place, so neat and orderly, it hit him. All the things that would normally be out of place, things that belonged to Lily, were gone. His feet carried him effortlessly, as though in a dream, to the second bedroom, and he was fairly certain he stopped breathing. Because now it was obvious. Lily had packed up and left while he was at lunch.

He winced, because he realized in that instant that it was the first of November. All their bets and deals and negotiations had been nullified. She would go back to her fixed up flat and he would stay here, in the perfectly pristine misery of being utterly alone and too far away from her. Anger reared its head, and before he could think on the wisdom of it, Scorpius whipped out his phone and called Lily.

"Hello?" Lily puffed, having half waddled and half jogged to grab the phone from the bedroom, quickly detouring back to the bathroom. She'd finally gotten the bulk of her stuff unloaded, and had a small mountain in her sitting room to put away and attempt to organize. Which, with her heart feeling heavier than she was, seemed a daunting task.

"Did you do it on purpose?" Scorpius demanded. Lily frowned, because he sounded furious.

"Do what?" she asked blankly. The baby kicked, and hard, but Lily paused despite a full bladder because it hit her then, what Scorpius was talking about. "Oh," she said blankly.

"Did you just pack up and leave without saying anything because I was out?" he said, and although the worse were harsh, and a tad rude, honestly, Lily could hear the hurt beneath them.

"I didn't-" She cut herself off, before she said something stupid. Because she hadn't thought he'd really notice, or much care. "I didn't do it on purpose," she murmured. "The timing just sort of worked out that way. And, y'know, it's November. I had to come back here to get all my shit sorted before the baby comes." She knew she didn't have to explain, but she couldn't help it. "And I had Rose help me, but she only had an hour before her meetings, and I…" The redhead trailed off, because she simply couldn't admit she wouldn't have been able to do it if Scorpius was there, because she'd never have the courage to with his compelling dark grey eyes watching her. And the thought of him helping her get out of his flat, and mostly out of his life, was painful to the extreme. "I just had to get my stuff here," she mumbled lamely.

There was a long, tense pause. "Alright," Scorpius said at last. Lily licked her lips, pushing a hand through her hair, barely biting back the urge to tell him she didn't want to go, especially now that she was back in her bland, lifeless flat. "I'll send on anything you might've missed," he added coolly, and Lily felt her heart drop.

"Sure," she said quietly.

"See you on Thursday," he murmured, and she felt a burst of elation, because she almost forgotten they had her thirty six week appointment.

"See you then," she murmured, and rang off, at last going pee, and trudging back to her sitting room. The few boxes and several bags of her stuff, along with her disassembled cot, sat glaring back at her, and the redhead couldn't help it as she burst into tears. Because if that wasn't the last nail in the coffin of her pretend relationship with Scorpius, she didn't know what would be.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Lily had mostly gotten her baby things set up the way she liked, with the assistance of Rose and her mother, and they'd made a cute little nursery corner in her bedroom, and the elder redhead had taken her grocery shopping, although Lily had drawn the line at having her mother pay, even if she agreed to carrying only things like bread and crisps upstairs.

She was just stepping out of the shower when her cell phone rang, and she frowned, wondering who would call her at eight thirty on a Thursday morning. A smile tilted her lips up for the first time that morning as she saw it was Scorpius. "Hey," she said, picking up. "Is this supposed to be my wake up call?" She couldn't help the teasing edge in her voice, because she hadn't heard from Scorpius since she'd moved out of his condo, and she'd, quite honestly, missed him horrendously in the moments her mind was free from baby thoughts.

"I suppose. Why, are you just getting up?" Scorpius asked in a rough voice, sounding like he'd just woken up himself. Lily tried to ignore the gush of arousal that mental imagery brought, Scorpius in bed, all warm and sleepy, and probably hard and horny, with his stubble from the day before and those dark grey eyes roving over her, and-No!

"No," she said thickly, wetting her lips. "I just got out of the shower."

Scorpius grunted softly, and for an instant, Lily felt a white hot flash of jealousy, because if he had another woman in bed while talking to her, she'd probably- "Now that is a tempting thought to wake up to, darling," he rumbled. She sucked in a wobbly breath, nipples achingly hard under her towel. "Did you want to meet with me before your appointment? For breakfast?" She told herself she was being silly, because there was no way he meant she'd be the breakfast. Even if that's where her mind went straight away.

"Sure," she said, feeling a surge of lust just thinking about pancakes. "Archie's Diner?" she said, moving to get dressed.

"You read my mind. I'll swing by and pick you up in twenty minutes."

"See you then," she said brightly, and rang off, trying to convince herself it wasn't a date. Even if she took special care to put on her nicest leggings and tank, and even going so far as to apply perfume. She couldn't be bothered with her hair, so she twirled it up and stuck a massive clip in it, then spent ten minutes tidying her flat because she was way too nervous to sit and wait for Scorpius.

Eighteen minutes later, there was a knock on her door, and Lily opened the portal up, beaming, and felt distinctly let down that it was only her neighbours, Mike and Beth, standing before her. "Oh, hi," she said, forcing a smile as hers fell slightly.

"I told you she'd be back!" said little Beth, who was a good head shorter than Lily, to her massive boyfriend. "Mike didn't think you still lived here," she said, beaming up at Lily.

"Oh, um, yeah, I'm still here," she said lightly, biting her lip. "I was just, erm, staying with a friend for awhile."

"Well either way, I'm glad you're back," Mike said. "Better than another old bird like the one from one B."

"We wanted to bring you this," Beth said, holding out a small package wrapped in mint green and baby pink bow patterned paper.

"You didn't have to-" Lily began, touched her neighbours had gotten her what appeared to be a baby gift.

"Don't be silly, honey, I've had five of my own. You never say no to free shit," Beth interrupted dismissively. "Anyway, it's nothing special, but I have a feeling you'll need it at some point, and wish you'd thought of it. And I'm sure you've already had your baby shower, but better late than never, I say. By the way, did you ever find out the gender?"

"Let her breathe, Beth," Mike said, smiling. "No need to open it now, kiddo."

Lily smiled, feeling a little misty eyed, and hugged Beth, then Mike. "Thank you, that's really sweet," she murmured, and then looked over as someone ascended the stairs and turned down the hallway. "Scorpius!" she said, unable to smother her bright smile as the tall blond paused, taking in the scene. "Sorry, I literally almost forgot," she mumbled, feeling silly, and turned to her neighbours, who looked curiously, and in Mike's case a little menacingly, at Scorpius.

"Oh, don't let us keep you, honey. Anyway, see you around! And don't forget to let me see that baby the second you bring him home," Beth said, and all but pushed her man toward their door. "Say goodbye, Mike!"

"See you later, kiddo," Mike said gruffly, even as Beth opened their door. "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will," Lily said, and glanced up as Scorpius approached.

"What's that?" he asked, indicating the gift in her hands, and Lily smiled, looking down at it. "Oh, this is from Mike and Beth. I'm not really sure what it is, but it's for the bean," she said, rubbing her bump lovingly with her free hand. Scorpius's face, when she glanced back up at it, was unreadable.

"That was nice of them."

"It was," she agreed, ducking into her flat to grab her coat and put the present on the little table that held keys and random pocket contents by her front door. "Um, thanks for taking me to breakfast," she said to break the moderately awkward silence as they headed back downstairs.

"My pleasure," Scorpius said, smiling as she waddled past while he held the front door for her. "Oh," he added as they got into his silver BMW, "I almost forgot to mention, you left your hair dryer at my place. Do you want it back?"

Lily almost laughed as she did up her belt. She hadn't even recalled bringing her hair dryer. "Sure," she said. "Did you bring it?"

"No, it's still in my bathroom," he replied, pulling into traffic seamlessly, heading toward Archie's. "You can grab it after your appointment, if you like," he said easily, flicking the heater up a smidge on her side.

Lily unzipped her coat. "Sure," she said again, smiling goofily. "Sorry, I didn't think I missed anything."

"Don't be," he replied, and glanced at her as they pulled to a stop for a red light. "I just don't want you going out with wet hair and catching a cold or something. That might be bad for the baby, after all," he said.

Lily barely refrained from rolling her eyes, but felt oddly at peace as she settled back in the passenger seat of his car. "Probably," she murmured, because while she was willing to bet her bean would be fine, it would indeed suck to get sick and not be able to take anything for it.

Scorpius couldn't resist tracing the curves of her luscious breasts just visible under her coat and tank top, and told himself he was being foolish, and petty, and even a little creepy by holding the half dozen random objects he'd unearthed in the four days since Lily had last lived with him ransom to find excuses to see her. But it was because he missed her goddamnit! And she was so obviously happy without him, it would be an absolute dick move to insist she come back and stay with him. And she obviously needed to get herself and her baby things prepared for the imminent arrival of their bean.

But he still had a throw pillow, the little cactus from her room, a purple sock, a pack of bobby pins, and a bag of random baby outfits she'd purchased at some point and left in the hall closet to give back. And the blond was determined that he would use them all to gain more precious time with Lily before he had nothing to tie them together except the life growing inside her. And, if he was truly honest with himself, Scorpius knew he'd probably use the baby, too, as an excuse to see Lily, and spend time with her. Because, god fucking damn it, he loved her, and was too selfish to let her go.

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