A/N: A familiar character makes a come back in this chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nada.
Warning: Slash, Mpreg, Dub-Con.
Chapter Fourteen... "Love is not an equation, it is not a contract, and it is not a happy ending. Love is the slate under the chalk, the ground that buildings rise, and the oxygen in the air. It is the place you come back to, no matter where you're headed."-Jodi Picoult
Sebastian stood dutifully by Ciel's side, helping the little lord puzzle through some school work or another at his desk. He appeared to be quite the attentive aid but each time I looked up at them, more often than not, his rust colored eyes were on me, taking in what I was doing or reassuring himself of my presence. It was actually kind of sweet. And hilarious. To see the ever-so-composed butler unable to drag his eyes off of me for more than a few moments had a sort of thrilling entertainment in itself. What made it even funnier was that Ciel was doing the same thing.
'Really! Those boys...,' I thought fondly, letting the slow smile curve my lips just as surely as my belly curved outwards.
It was impossible to hide my pregnancy now. I was round enough now that I had been forced to stay in the manor for Ciel's latest cases, as if Sebastian would have let me leave anyways, and when we ventured out into London, I was constrained to glamouring myself as a girl. The boys seemed to find this predicament endlessly amusing, though it pleased the demonic butler to have the opportunity to introduce me as his "beautiful, glowing wife".
Two pairs of eyes flicked to me once again and I rolled my eyes, grinning. Ciel at least had it in him to blush at being caught. Sebastian only spread a wry smirk over his face at the image I made. The little Earl had relinquished his softest, most comfortable chair for my use and thank Merlin for that because anything less just about killed my back nowadays. I was round enough at 25 weeks that bumping into things had become a constant hazard. My big belly certainly made a wonderful table though, I thought happily as I set back to work folding onesies and cloth diapers on my stomach. Not that a demon baby would need a diaper. We ate souls, after all, and even when I indulged in human food, I never really cast much thought as to what happened to it after that. It seemed too embarrassing a question to ask the man I was sleeping with.
"We need to get a crib made to go in the nursery." Ciel interjected, breaking the companionable silence as he began stuffing the papers neatly away into his desk, "Would you like to go to town and see if we can find one worthy enough?"
His haughty question drew a laugh from me and I nodded, "Sounds like a day, little lord. Perhaps I'll stop in and see Undertaker too. He sent me the most adorable stuffed skeleton doll and I haven't had the chance to thank him for it. Merlin only knows how he knew I was pregnant to begin with. I certainly didn't tell him."
I made to try and roll myself out of the chair's soft grip but Sebastian beat me to it and helped ease me up carefully. The smile I gave him afterwards seemed to warm something in him though it was hidden away as quickly as I had witnessed it.
"Probably that Sutcliff character. He seems like he would just dive on the chance to smear you to anyone." Ahh, that was true. There was definitely no love lost between Grell and I. According to the ginger Reaper, I had stolen his man and gotten to bear his children when that had been all the Scythe-wielding menace had wanted. I snorted derisively. Indeed.
I allowed my companion to escort me to the study door though I waved him off once we got to the hallway. Good grief, I wasn't so big that I couldn't walk on my own, after all. If Sebastian kept that up we were going to have a very long fifteen weeks to come. Ciel was making a list of baby things we needed to look at as we made our way to the entrance hall making me smile broadly. For someone who was afraid he wouldn't be around to see the birth of my child, he was certainly excited about it. I think he put more heart into decorating the nursery than any of us, and for my first child, that was saying something. He had picked out which room we would designate for the baby, a room directly next to mine and Sebastian's and close enough to his own, and had sat up late one night puzzling over which the baby would like best on the mobile: giraffes or lions. I had begged off of the lions only because the red and gold coloring they came in made me sad to see.
What would my friends think if they could see me now? Heavy with child and glowing, a demon with a master and all but adopted human child. Hermione would probably have a stack of books on demonology and pregnancies as tall as she was in hand before I even had a chance to finish my explanation. Ron would probably look horrified, both at the concept of a bloke being pregnant, my being a demon and the prospect of having to study. Sebastian had just returned with the little master's coat only for me to pluck it deftly from his gloved hands with a playful smirk. The demon bowed to my wishes mockingly though his amusement was clear to see in the shining of his eyes, despite the displeased frown he shot me at the sight of me lowering myself to the floor. Good grief, I was a demon, not fine china. The man was being smotheringly parental. But I was coming to like it. Sebastian...was growing on me bit by bit. I'm not sure when it began, really. It was in a thousand and one tiny moments, undefinable but precious. In the way he looked at me over Ciel's head when the boy couldn't see and the way he always gave me the briefest of touches as he passed by. They were nested snugly in the way he whispered to my belly at night, moments of stolen time where he simply sat back and bonded with our child. Somehow, it had started becoming our child, instead of mine. Our room instead of his. The transition had been slow like a lava flow across a flat plain but no less overcoming and consuming.
I knelt to button up Ciel's blue coat when there was a light, almost unsure rapping at the door. Sebastian's frown that had yet to dissipate from his disdain at my hunched position, tightened. Just barely below human hearing I could hear him mutter to himself about brigands who don't make appointments and, strangely, Grell Sutcliff. I ignored his plight with a snort. Probably just the delivery man bringing more contracts and paperwork for my tiny Earl. I hummed happily at the little one in my arms and gave him a quick hug before Sebastian could see. No reason to undermine Ciel's clear 'manliness' in front of his butler. To my surprise, I was in a terribly good mood today. It was beautiful out and we were all four going to spend the day in London together looking at baby clothes and bassinets. I was well fed thanks to the butler's efforts the night before and, for once, I felt like a normal human being instead of a hormonal monster. Well, as human as I could be at this point.
Sebastian opened the door to confront our unexpected visitor and the joyful mood I was in rushed out of me like a murdered balloon. There standing in the open door was a stately gentleman with waist length black hair pulled back in a loose, low ponytail. His pale alabaster skin could give my demonic companion a run for his money and the man boasted the most kingly, handsome hands that I had ever seen. Hands that were holding a familiar yew wand. Time stood still. My heart stopped. For a split second, all of the air within me rushed out in a quivering exhalation. Crimson eyes found my own and before I knew what had happened, I had rushed across the floor, out of the door and into his astonished, amazed arms.
"Tom..." His name fell out of my lips and when trembling arms locked around me like a starving man at a feast, I thought that surely this had to be a dream. This couldn't be real. Surely, I was sleeping. I was dreaming, hadn't even woken yet this morning. But no. There was his heartbeat. The smell of spicy, expensive liquor. His breath on my cheek. The beloved feel of his magic moving around my so changed body. His arms wrapped around me felt just the same as they had the day I had struck him down one hundred and fifty-four years ago. The same day that I had sold my soul and lost my humanity forever. My Tom. He was here, actually here. How?
"Harry...I found you. I finally found you..." The Dark Lord whispered as if he barely dared to believe it.
That was all the confirmation I needed. Hormonal and feeling suddenly overwhelmed, I burst into uncontrollable tears.