Draco left the next morning, telling Luna he didn't know when he would be back, and leaving a lengthy list of instructions in case Caelum got sick or anything happened while he was gone.
"You've never been away from him, have you?" Luna asked, watching him with his son.
"Not like this." He answered huskily. He gave his son one last hug and kiss. "Daddy loves you and I'll be back soon." He handed Caelum to Luna. "Take care of him."
"Of course." She smiled at him sadly. "Take care of you."
The first day passed slowly and quietly. That evening, Caelum apparently realized Draco hadn't come back. He kept looking toward the bedroom door, crying and holding out his arms. Luna carried him into the bedroom to show him Draco wasn't there.
Mrs. Malfoy came to the nursery after dinner. Caelum's face lit up when the door opened, but he then frowned and made an angry sound when he saw it wasn't his daddy.
Narcissa frowned until Luna explained that the baby was looking for Draco.
"You're spoiled like your father." She laughed at her grandson. "Rinka."
The tiny elf popped into the room. "Mistress is needing Rinka?"
"Bring us a picture of Draco."
Rinka returned a few minutes later with a large portrait of Draco in his quidditch uniform, probably taken in his fifth year. Luna was struck by how young and carefree he looked then, compared to how he was now.
Narcissa held the picture in front of Caelum, who held out his arms and squealed.
"You love your daddy?" Luna asked.
Caelum grabbed at the picture and made jabbering noises, then turned back to look at the bedroom door.
"Daddy." Luna repeated. "Daddy will be home in a few days."
"Daddy. Daddy." Narcissa repeated, pointing at the picture.
"Duh." Caelum managed.
Luna and Narcissa cheered for him, hugging him and clapping.
"Duh. Duh." Caelum repeated, pointing at Draco's picture, grinning broadly. Narcissa held the picture to him. He placed a slobbery kiss on the glass over his daddy's face.
He looked at Luna and said "Duh."
She shook her head. "No." She pointed to the picture. "That's Daddy. I'm Luna. Loooo - nuh."
Narcissa rolled her eyes. "You know he can't say that."
"Then what should he call me?" She tilted her head.
"Maybe we should leave that up to Draco." Mrs. Malfoy frowned.
Caelum held his arms out to Luna, opening and closing his hands. She picked him up and kissed his cheek.
"Duh." he looked up at her and said again.
She pointed to the picture. "Daddy."
He pointed to the bedroom door. "Duh."
"No, Daddy's not in there." Luna looked over at Narcissa who was smiling in amusement.
Caelum leaned toward the door. "Duh! Duh!"
"You're going to have to show him." Narcissa stood up and kissed the baby's forehead. "Good night." She looked over the child's head at Luna. "Call if you need any help with him."
Luna nodded, standing and walking toward the door. "We'll be fine."
She took Caelum in the bedroom again to show him that Draco was not there. They walked around the room, checking in the wardrobe and the bathroom. She laid Caelum down in the middle of the bed. He rolled over and put his head on the second pillow from the right.
"Duh." he announced, burrowing into the bed.
With his head on Draco's favorite pillow.
The only way Luna could get Caelum to sleep that night was to sleep with him in Draco's bed. He awoke promptly at six the following morning, shouting "Duh!"and became distraught when he realized Draco wasn't back. He cried and kicked his feet against the bed. When Luna put him in the high chair and tried to feed him breakfast, he threw his bottle onto the floor. He turned his head and shrieked every time she offered him a bite of cereal. She finally gave up, wrapped him in a blanket, and settled into the rocking chair with baby, bottle, and dragon. He cried and called for his daddy for over an hour before he finally cried himself back to sleep.
He slept a little over an hour before waking again. This time Luna was able to get him to drink half the bottle before he realized Draco still wasn't back.
Narcissa found them with Luna holding Caelum who hugged his dragon, sobbed, and randomly called out for "Duh."
Luna sighed. "He doesn't understand that his daddy will be back, but not right now."
They spent the next two days distracting him as much as possible and tiring him out so he would sleep without crying for Draco. Fortunately, the days were relatively warm, so Narcissa and Luna bundled him up and took him out into the garden several times. They also took him to the library and Narcissa's private sitting room several times.
On the third night, Luna discovered that the house elves had changed the bed linens while she had been out of the room. The sheets and pillows no longer smelled like Draco. It was nearly impossible to get Caelum to sleep that night. The next morning, Caelum stopped looking for Draco as much. The bad news was, he clung to Luna and became hysterical any time she was out of his sight. He also started calling Luna "Duh" as well.
On the fifth day, Caelum was eating a little better, probably from sheer hunger. He still became inconsolable whenever Luna was out of his sight.
Luna heard loud voices from other parts of the Manor, but ignored them as she had learned to do early in her captivity. She was continuing to try to feed Caelum his lunch, only parts of which he would eat. She whirled when she heard the door open to find Draco in the doorway.
"Hey." he said simply, just hanging in the doorway, watching them both.
"Duh!" Caelum shouted, bouncing up and down in his high chair, little legs kicking, arms out and hands opening and closing rapidly. "Duh! Duh!"
Luna smiled at the puzzled look on Draco's face. "I tried to teach him to say Daddy. That's the best we've gotten, and unfortunately he calls me Daddy as well."
Draco's face lit up like someone had given him the world. He crossed the room in three long strides. "Daddy's home." he told Caelum.
He had to dodge the tray of the high chair as it went flying across the room.
"What did you do that for?" he turned to Luna in shock.
"I didn't." Luna looked at him in confusion.
Draco turned back to his son, who was about to bounce out of the chair, shouting "Duh! Duh! Duh! Duh!" and holding up his arms.
"Did you do that?" Draco asked the baby. He scooped the child up. Caelum threw his little arms around his daddy's neck and planted a slurpy kiss on the side of his chin. "I missed you too." Draco laughed.
Caelum pressed against Draco's chest and laughed.
Luna started to move away, to give them some time together. Caelum realized she was leaving and shrieked.
"Duh!" he cried, holding one hand out to her, while keeping a death grip on Draco's shirt with the other.
Luna turned back to him. "Did you want Daddy..." she pointed at Draco. "or me?" she pointed at herself.
Caelum looked at her, tilting his head as Luna often did. "Muh. Me. Meeeeee!" his little face lit up. "Duh." he looked at Draco. "Me." he pointed at Luna.
Draco laughed. "That will do for now. You are so smart!"
Luna took the little hand pointed at her and kissed it. "You are. You are such a smart boy."
Caelum yanked his hand away from her, grabbing a handful of her hair and pulling her closer. "Me!"
"You want Duh and Me to both stay, hm?" she asked the baby.
She sat down on the floor. Draco retrieved the dragon toy from the crib, tossing it to Luna, and sat down with Caelum in his lap.
Caelum made the sign for his dragon and Luna handed it to him. He hugged the stuffed toy, and then turned to Draco, who tickled his sides and praised what a smart boy he was.
There was a soft knock at the door, and Narcissa came in. She rushed to Draco's side kneeling and wrapping her arms around her son and grandson. "I heard you were back."
Draco kissed her cheek. "Yes, I'm back. Obviously."
She leaned back to look at them.
"Duh." Caelum said, pointing at Draco and snuggling against him.
Mrs. Malfoy smiled indulgently. "Yes, you finally got your daddy back, didn't you?"
"Who's that, Caelum?" Draco pointed at Luna.
"Me!" he cried out, giggling.
Narcissa raised an eyebrow at Draco. "You're teaching him to call Luna Mummy?"
Draco frowned. "No. Caelum came up with that on his own. He doesn't even know what a mummy is."
Narcissa smirked. "You should teach him to call Luna his mummy. That would burn her pride to no end."
She stood then, ruffling the baby's hair. "I'll talk to you later." she gave Draco a significant look.
He nodded, but didn't answer as his mother left.
Caelum began slurping on the dragon's plastic nose. Draco kissed the top of his son's head. "I missed you so much." he whispered.
"Did everything go well on your trip?" Luna asked.
Draco shrugged. "After all the talk up, it was rather anti-climatic. The Dark Lord took me to some of his allies and introduced me as his new general. They said all the appropriate things." He snorted and rearranged his legs. "They're all suckups like my father. Speaking of whom, the Dark Lord dropped me off back here, and took my father and Auntie Bella with him. He didn't say where they were going, just that they would be back tomorrow. My father about pissed himself, he was so thrilled."
She leaned back, resting her palms behind her. "You are not ever leaving that child for five days again." she smiled at him. "He cried for you almost the entire time you were gone."
Draco creased his brow at her, then looked down at his son. "Did you miss Daddy?"
"Duh." the baby pointed, smiling sleepily, his eyelids drooping.
Draco moved to the rocking chair, nuzzling his child for a moment, and then rocking him to sleep. He didn't put Caelum in the crib, but just sat there holding him and watched him sleep.
"Do you want me to take him?" Luna asked softly.
"No, he's fine." Draco murmured.
"I didn't think you were in contact with his mother." she said, not quite looking him in the eye.
He sighed. "Unfortunately, I am. Not by choice. And I assure you, there's nothing going on between us any more. But she has nothing to do with Caelum. She hasn't even held him since the night he was born."
"And you're not sure how you feel about that." she continued for him.
"We don't need her." he spat angrily. "We're fine without her. We're wonderful without her. She wanted the perfect little pure blood baby to present to the Dark Lord as his ... whatever. Not really an heir, because he has no plans to die. But Caelum wasn't perfect, so she has no interest in him whatsoever."
"Do you really want her to?" Luna tilted her head at him. "What if she had kept Caelum from the very beginning? Where would you be now?"
"I probably would have been dead by now. I would have done something stupid and reckless on a raid." he shook his head.
"Would Caelum have had a better life with his mother and Voldemort?" she scooted a little closer, and reached up to stroke the baby's hair.
He gave her a withering look. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
"You wouldn't trust her if she suddenly came along now, and wanted to be part of his life." she pointed out.
"Do you even have a point?" he snapped.
"Just that if you keep holding on to the hurt and anger, you're still allowing her to control you."
She got up and walked to her bed, flopping down with a book.