Disc.: Same ol' same... different day.

A/N: Just a heads up, while I am all the way on Chapter 29 (well, at least started on it) I realized upon going into work tonight that I'm on shift for the next seven days (normally it's 2 off, 2 on, 3 off, 3 on, rather than 7 on, 2 off... boy did I get screwed!), so... hmm... don't be all word and freaked out that there aren't any updates in this time. As much as I love to write, 12 hour shifts and sleep must happen... but I will do my best. Enjoy.


Chapter Twenty-Seven

"I'm bored!" Lily sighed. "Is it time for my shower?"

"Lily, for the love of all things holy, you took one three hours ago," Scorpius grumbled. "You're not taking another one. There's soap dirtier than you."

"I'm bored!" she whined.

"Well, it's no picnic for us, either," Damon mumbled.

"Hey! I'm growing your kid," Lily protested.

"To which I'm grateful for, but honestly Lily, complaining every twenty minutes from wake up to sleep-time isn't making it any better," Damon sighed. He flipped through the channels. "How about a movie?"

"We've watched them all, twice," Lily pointed out.

"Dad's supposed to come today, with Marshall," Scorpius pointed out.

"Kind of sad that the high-light is the potential of my emotional demise," Lily grunted, crossing her arms. She made a face. "Look, I know I'm not allowed to take another shower but I really do need to use the bathroom."

"Are you sure?" Damon made a face.

"Oh, because you know it's a real pleasure having the three of us crammed in there every single time one of us has to go," Lily snapped as Draco walked in, standing just inside the door. Scorpius and Damon looked to Lily.

"All good?" Scorpius muttered under his breath.

"He's fine," Lily blew out once the charm didn't indicate anything awry. "Draco, thank goodness you're here."

"Problem?" Draco asked.

"Definitely," Lily tried to sit up more in bed but groaned at the discomfort and decided to remain in the semi upright position she'd been in for the last two weeks. "You have to lift the all of us together rule. We're driving each other insane. I want to pee without having to listen to the faucet and them humming, and Merlin, chili night... just... no, Draco. No." Draco chuckled.

"Lily, it's just a precaution," Draco reminded her.

"Draco, come... ON! I need a break. I need some alone time!" Lily huffed. "How much danger could I really be in my own home?"

"We don't know, and until we do the rule remains," Draco chuckled again. "I'll make sure that chili is taken off the menu."

"Oh, you are so kind," Lily quipped sarcastically.

"Lily, when Marshall gets here, Damon and Scorpius and you can have a break from each other," Draco promised.

"Oh, great, so instead of being crammed in a bathroom with them, I can be crammed in there with a former lover and my father-in-law," Lily groaned.

"It wasn't chili night last night, right?" Draco teased. Scorpius and Damon erupted in laughter, and Lily fought and lost the urge to suppress her smile. Marshall entered, and they all paused, Lily waving him in.

"He's fine, really, as scary as the four of you are, I doubt anyone would be so foolish," Lily promised.

"Rules are rules," Marshall reminded her as he carried his bag to the bed. Damon slid off the side and joined Scorpius who was already heading to the door.

"We'll be back soon," Scorpius tossed over his shoulder as he escaped. "Maybe you can convince them to let you take a shower."

"Thanks you pansy!" Lily shouted, her hand going to her stomach.

"Easy there, Lily," Marshall chastised. "There's no cushion for the baby."

"I know, I remember," Lily sighed.

"Do you really need a shower?"

"No, not really," Lily sighed again. "I had one three hours ago. I do need to use the bathroom, though."

"Can it wait?" Draco asked. Lily made a face.

"I guess," Lily rolled her eyes.

"If she really needs to-"

"No, I'm fine, just bored out of my mind," Lily sighed throwing her hands up.

"The longer your son stays in, the better his outcome," Marshall reminded her. Lily nodded and forced a smile.

"Let's get this started," Lily breathed. Draco took up the spot that Damon had formerly occupied while Marshall sat at her other side, near her hip. He had a small device and used the little probe to listen through her belly.

"He sounds good in there, and there's still a bit of swishing around, so he's not completely dry. You must be staying properly hydrated," Marshall offered with a smile. Lily chuckled.

"There's not a whole lot more to do than sleep, drink, and watch TV," Lily motioned dismissively.

"Well, if we can get you to 36 weeks, that'd be ideal, so hang in there," Marshall murmured. Draco brushed her hair out off her face and resumed slight pressure against her temples.

"Count back from ten with me, slowly," Draco murmured.

"You know, this is nothing like they teach you in healer school," Lily replied. Draco chuckled.

"Its an Auror thing," he promised. "Now let's start with ten... nine... eight..."

Lily wasn't holding Draco's hand this time when she glanced around the long, white room with the filing cabinets. She looked to her left, then her right, surprised to find that she was alone. She scratched her arm, more of a nervous habit than an actual itch.

"Draco?" Lily called out quietly. The sound echoed and Lily frowned. "Draco?!"

When the sound stopped reverberating, she crossed her arms. It would figure that her second time in, she'd be alone. She didn't feel the lightness or the desire to spin again. Instead, she walked along the walkway, finger tip tracing along the tops of the cabinets. The shift in hue, from crisp, pure white to something else seemed indistinguishable at first. She stopped, touching the handle of the drawer. Her heart was pounding, she could feel it throbbing in her chest, fluttering, and she felt a wave of dread as she opened the drawer.

The sound of many glass orbs banging around seemed almost too loud in the void. She closed her eyes, her hand closing on one. She pulled it back and looked at it. It was still just a simple glass orb until she squeezed it, staring at the images that materialized. Her heart broke as she relived that last moment she spent with Scorpius before he left, just days before their initial wedding. The memory had been a beautiful one but Lily knew that it was a precursory memory to the horror that would unfold just days later. She could feel the love radiating from the memory and she grasped on to that as she placed it carefully back in the drawer, closing her eyes as she took the next one.

She watched in rapt horror as she lost first her brother, then her baby, all in one fail swoop. She felt hot, sick, and her heart cracked a little under the fresh wave of grief. She sobbed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and replaced the ball in the drawer. She started to run down the path, her hands running across the fronts of the cabinets. All of sudden, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at one of the drawers just a breath behind her.

She stared at the closed drawer behind her. She traced the handle a few times before she opened the drawer. She peered inside to find that some of the balls were covered with something sticky and red. Lily's nose wrinkled as the decomposing smell of death wafted off of them. She hesitantly touched the first of the dirty orbs, her finger smudging the substance.

"Blood," Lily murmured. "Dark magic."

Lily took a deep breath, her hand closing on the ball. She squeezed it but the memory was blocked. She frowned, glancing around for something to clean it with. She came up empty and looked down at her long night gown. Wetting the corner in her mouth, her saliva seemed to crack and smear the blood away. Lily rubbed and wiped it until the ball was as clear as any of the old balls. She squeezed it and immediately wished she hadn't.

She closed her eyes, and she was back in her old life, newly hired on as the minister's assistant. She was working late at the minister's request, catching up on some letters that needed to be drawn up for approval and dissemination. Lily was tired, her shoulders ached from being hunched up with a quill over the parchment.

"Lily," Obadiah Parker murmured as he came up behind her. "How's the letter writing going?"

"Good, Minister," Lily offered, tilting her head slightly so that she could see him.

"That's good," he replied as he put his hands on the tops of her shoulder. Lily felt her stomach clench unexpectedly, his hands slid to her bare skin and Lily froze. "That's very good, but Lily, how many times must I remind you to call me Obadiah?"

"Sorry," Lily muttered, trying to ignore the way he was rubbing her shoulders. Her stomach clenched harder as she felt his breath moving her hair, and nausea rose up as he slid his hand from the top of her shoulder across her collarbone and between the collar of her shirt and her flesh.

"Oh, Lily," he breathed as he breached the soft material of her bra.

Lily jumped, the ball falling from her hand and shattering on the ground at her feet. The memory dissipated, but Lily could still feel the ghost of the minister's touch. She shuddered and turned away from the drawer, holding on tight to another one of the filing cabinets as she was sick. She felt her stomach roll over and over as she felt his touch in places she would have never allowed him to be.

"I want to leave now!" Lily screamed into the nothingness. "I'm done here!"

Nothing, Lily ran back and forth, ignoring the building pain or the sick that seemed to boil up in her. She didn't care at the moment. Her only thoughts were escape, to scour the touch of that man off of her body. She fell to her knees, hands clamped over her ears as the memory sounds assaulted her, each grunt and moan as loud as they had been when she had been forced to lay there on his desk without the power or ability to turn away. She screamed out over and over, trying to block the warmth between her legs or the heat or the pressure. She threw up over and over, the sick rising from deep with in her soul rather than in her stomach.

She nearly succumbed to the one horrific memory. She nearly lost complete control forever. Instead she pressed her thumbs into her temples as hard as she could and started to count forwards as controlled as she could have. She came to with a start, to find herself lying not in the bed but on the floor. Damon and Marshall were doing CPR on her and she flailed in panic to get them off of her. Draco was holding Scorpius back.

"LILY!" Damon screamed as Scorpius broke free, the two embracing her at once.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" Lily wept over and over. "Please, don't touch me! Please!" Both of them immediately released her and she curled into a little ball, as little as she could with her giant stomach in the ways, and she wept.

"What happened?" Damon demanded as he whipped his head around.

"I don't know!" Draco replied in the same volume.

"Lily?" Scorpius stroked her cheek and she sobbed.

"Please, don't touch me," Lily begged with a small sob. Scorpius retracted her hand.

"Lily what happened?" Draco asked. "One minute we were counting back together, the next you were gone. Not breathing, no pulse. We thought we'd lost you."

"I was there, I was there and you weren't," Lily accused through her tears. "You weren't there to keep him from hurting me."

"You saw whose been hurting you?" Marshall asked. He reached out to touch her but a look from Scorpius had him retracting his hand as quickly.

"No, I don't know," Lily cried.

"Lily, when need to get you to St. Mungo's," Marshall explained. "We need to induce labor now and see if we can save your son."

"My son?" Lily asked. She touched her stomach and the baby stirred slightly.

"Yes, we don't know what losing you for that minute might have done," Marshall explained. Lily pushed herself up off the floor, ignoring the gasp of pain that emitted from her lips.

"Is that her blood?" Damon asked.

"Not this time," Lily said somberly. She knew without looking it was the same sticky red cursed blood that had been on the orb that she'd cleaned off to look at, the same orb that was shattered and whose memory had re-assaulted her. She sniffled, the memory already starting to fade away, still there but not nearly as sharp.

"No more! No more until after the baby's born and she's healed," Scorpius shouted at Draco and Marshall. "I won't lose her or have her risk losing the baby just to remember some atrocity that she went through."

"I agree, no more," Damon threw back at them as he gathered her bag from the closet. He stopped next to Lily. "Are you okay to aparate by yourself to St. Mungo's?"

"No," Lily admitted weakly. She knew that focusing was going to be nearly impossible.

"For one of us to side-along, we're going to have to touch you," Scorpius informed her gently, offering her his arm. She wrapped her arm around Scorpius' neck, sobbing and reached behind her to take Damon's hand. If it confused either of them, they didn't question it.

"We're right behind you," Draco called as they disappeared. Scorpius and Damon kept their hands on her, guiding her to the maternity room that Draco had pre-arranged for Lily. Marshall came in behind them, getting to work.

"I want a shower first," Lily begged. "Please, I need to."

"Okay, hurry," Marshall advised as he prepared the bed and bags. "Stay with her."

"I wasn't going to leave her," Scorpius promised as he took her into the small room. Damon hesitated at the doorway.

"In or out?" Damon asked him.

"In," Scorpius said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him in. "But keep your back turned."

"Of course, of course," Damon muttered as Scorpius turned on the water and helped her out of the ruined clothes.

"Lily? What happened?" Scorpius asked her gently, ignoring the water that was splashing up on him.

"You were right," Lily sobbed softly. "Remembering those memories were awful. I relieved James' death, and losing you."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius hugged her gently.

"He... he hurt me," Lily whispered.

"Damon?" Scorpius growled.

"No, man," Damon snapped.

"Scorpius, no, not him," Lily breathed. She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking. She whispered softly. "The minister. He..."

"He what?" Scorpius asked as he wrapped the towel around her while Damon fiddled with the ties on the hospital gown. Lily closed her eyes and shook her head, unwilling to speak.

"Damon, help me out here," Draco called.

"It's fine, go," Scorpius answered, taking the gown from him. "We'll be right out." Lily opened her eyes and brought her hands to her face, sobbing softly.

"Scorpius," she wept.

"It's okay, Lily. Nothing you say is going to change the way we feel about you," Scorpius promised as he guided her arms through the gown, tying it loosely.

"Scorpius, the minister made me-" Lily couldn't look at him. She covered her mouth with one hands, trying to stifle the sobs.

"Lily? What did he make you do?" Scorpius' voice had turned cold. She shook her head.

"I don't know, for sure, but if the one little memory was any indication, this baby... it might not be Damon's after all," Lily turned away from him, crying.

"Shh, Lily," Scorpius embraced her in his arms. "What do you mean the baby might not be Damon's baby? Were you with others at the same time you were with Damon?"

"Not that I remember," Lily screwed her face up in contemplation mixed with horror. "But if today's taste of the past, the minister is very, very good at manipulation of memories... and of bodies."

"He-"

"I think, yes," Lily looked away, shame flooding her face.

"Oh, Merlin, Lily," Scorpius embraced her tighter. "We'll figure this out, we'll get through this."

"If this baby isn't Damon's baby-" Lily sobbed softly. "I can't even-"

"Shh, Lily, let's not worry about it now," Scorpius opened the door, guiding her towards the bed.

"But-"

"Damon, you ready to be a father?" Scorpius ' voice was falsely bright. "You're going to be behind her, supporting her, right?"

"Right," Damon nodded.

"Nervous? Don't be," Marshall breathed as Lily climbed into the bed. "She's the one who has to do this."

Lily ignored the IV until it started giving her contractions that felt like they were one on top of the other. Marshall and the Neonate Healers were readying for the birth. Lily pulled Damon close, holding on to him, burying her face in his neck. Scorpius was there, too, rubbing small circles in her back.

"No matter what happens, don't leave him alone," Lily begged them.

"I promise, Lily," Scorpius whispered in her ear. He kissed her gently.

"It's time, Lily," Marshall told her after his final check. Lily sat up enough for Damon to slide into bed behind her. If it was terribly uncomfortable, he never complained. Draco looked a little pale but he hung in there, just out of view of the main event. Scorpius stood by, his hand on Damon's shoulder for moral support.

"What if-" Lily never got the chance to finish the statement. The overwhelming urge to push took her over. She clutched tight to Damon's hands, squeezing and pushing against him. In a rush, the head was out.

"He has a head full of hair," Marshall announced.

"Are you sure? It's been a while since I've been able to really groom-" Lily quipped.

"You didn't just say-" Draco went sheet-white.

"I think you're going to give Draco a coronary," laughed Damon. Scorpius shook with laughter, burying his head in her neck for a second.

"If he passes out, leave him," Scorpius roared merrily. He kissed Lily neck and pulled back, still there for them but a step back to give Lily and Damon the chance to work through this birthing thing as a pair.

"Okay, folks, let's get some shoulders out," Marshall called. "He's a big one, Lily. I don't know if your dates were off or if he's just a massive baby. Easy now, slow and steady." The baby came out in one quick movement, Marshall grabbing him quickly and flipping him up on Lily with a towel.

"Start rubbing him dry," Scorpius advised them.

"Who's cutting the cord?" Marshall asked, holding up a pair of scissors while Damon and Lily vigorously rubbed the baby with the towel.

"Scorpius," Lily and Damon replied in unison. It wasn't something they'd discussed previously, but it just made sense. Damon was Theron's God Father, and it only seemed natural in this unnatural family unit for Scorpius to be this baby's God Father, and his first act would be cutting the cord.

"Are you sure?" Scorpius asked nervously.

"Measure twice, cut once," Damon teased. "Oh, and he's still a boy, yes?"

"Yes, um, very much so," Scorpius offered as the screaming newborn was held still for Scorpius to cut the cord.

"Make sure you snip the right thing, then," Damon warned with a laugh.

"Lily, they're just going to take the baby for a little bit, okay?" Marshall told her as he took the baby to the warming bed.

"Go with him, please, Damon," Lily begged. Damon kissed the top of her head and climbed out from behind her, following the baby as they whisked him away for more care. Scorpius came over to the bed, holding Lily's hand while the after birth was delivered and the stitches were put in for some tearing. Scorpius dipped his head down, under the guise of kissing his wife. He kissed her cheek.

"The baby looks like Damon's clone, Lily," Scorpius promised. "That bastard didn't take that away from us."

"Thank you," Lily breathed as Scorpius pressed his lips to hers.

"I'll make him pay for what he's done to you, but right now, we celebrate our son," Scorpius whispered. "Thank you, Lily. For my step-son."