AN: Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter! They really mean a lot to me!

Chapter 37 – The Long Midnight

"Eat up, Hermione. You've barely touched your food." Her mother-in-law insisted.

"This is my second plate, Molly. I don't think I could eat another bite." Hermione defended. She wasn't expecting everyone to get so protective of her once she got pregnant. Fred yes, of course, but she figured everyone else would be less, well, pushy.

"Just a few more vegetables? I made the carrots your favorite way."

"I've had lots of the carrots. I promise, they were amazing."

"Come on Hermione, eat your vegetables." Ginny teased.

"Don't you start on me, too." Hermione sighed. She was really getting tired of everyone being over-concerned. She knew what she was doing. However, she did eat a couple more carrots to appease them. After all, they were really good.

"So when can we start telling the rest of the family?" Ginny asked eagerly. She was worse than Fred.

"Not for another month at least."

"Why not?" Molly asked curiously. Hermione was sure she was excited to announce yet another grandchild.

Hermione didn't want to give the real answer, but she didn't want to lie either. "Because.. I have a very high chance of – uh - miscarrying, especially early on, and don't want to get a lot of people's hopes up." She started fiddling with her wedding ring. "You know, in case anything happens."

Molly gave her a knowing look. "I had a miscarriage before the twins." She admitted, sadly.

"You did?" Ginny asked. Apparently she had not been privy to this knowledge.

She nodded. "I spent my entire next pregnancy worrying that I was going to lose them too. It's a hard thing to worry about, but I would try my best not to, Hermione. It isn't going to help you or the babies."

Hermione nodded at the sage advice, not even bothering to correct Molly's assumption that she was going to have multiples. Maybe she was going to. "I'm trying not to, but it's scary."

"I know dear. Just be careful, but carry on like there's nothing to fear. It'll be better for you in the long run. I didn't lose Fred and George, and you're not going to lose your little one, okay?"

"I'll try." Hermione said, one hand on her stomach. She might have imagined it, but she was sure she felt something there, stirring at it's mother's touch.

"Do you think they can hear me?" Fred asked, his head lying softly on his wife's stomach.

"Maybe." She replied, setting her book down beside him. "Their ears are probably just a small mass of cells right now, but they might be able to register something. Hearing doesn't happen until between six to nine weeks, but I've read later as well." She was barely a month along, and he was trying to be patient, but it was just so hard.

"So I'm being ridiculous trying to talk to them, aren't I?"

"No." She replied with a small chuckle. "I think it's cute. You want to be as close to our little one as possible."

He nodded softly, running his fingers up and down the soft skin of her belly. "It's not fair that you get to keep them for nine months."

"If you'd like to carry them, be my guest. I'm in no hurry to have to birth them."

"But it's just so.. so magical honey. We're going to be parents."

"You live in a world where magic lives in every breath and mote of dust, and you think this is magical?"

"Tell me it's not."

"It is something rather special. I don't know about magical though. Muggles do this too, after all."

"It's just that it's something I'll never experience. I just can't wait to meet them." He really couldn't. He had never known how much he really wanted to be a father until now. He couldn't wait.

"I haven't exactly met the little one yet either. They're just a small mass of cells right now. Give them a little time."

She was right, but he was still impatient. He kissed her stomach. "I love you so much, little ones."

"Little one." His wife corrected sleepily. She did not share in his hope for multiples by any means.

"What's so wrong with having twins, Hermione?" He asked. She was really starting to offend him.

"Like I said, I'm in no hurry to give birth to one baby, let alone two."

"It can't be that bad."

She gave him a pointed look.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" He asked.

She yawned and stretched. "Not enough."

He leaned over her, gently kissing her lips. "I love you so so very much."

"How much?"

"To the moon and back." He kissed her forehead. "To the light of every star that has ever shown, and back again."

"You're just saying that because I'm the mother of your unborn child." She teased, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He chuckled. "But how would you be the mother of my children if I didn't love you?"

"You've got me there. But maybe, you're just so very lucky that I love you." She leaned forward to kiss him, but pulled back at the last moment with a smirk, before kissing his cheek.

"Oh, I am infinitely lucky that you love me." He murmured, pressing his lips against her soft skin.

Hermione woke up in the middle of the night with an awful pain in her stomach. Her entire abdomen felt twisted up in knots. "Fred." She whispered. That wasn't going to work. She shook him awake. "Fred." He barely stirred. "Fred. The baby. I think there's something wrong." She said urgently, shaking him.

"What?" He asked groggily.

"My stomach really hurts. I think there's something wrong with the baby." Her chest tightened in panic.

He sat upright. "Let's get you to St. Mungo's."

She nodded, getting out of bed and wrapping herself in her bath robe. There wasn't time to get dressed.

"Do you want me to side-along apparate you?" Fred asked, having slipped on pants and a shirt faster than Hermione ever thought possible.

"I can't apparate while pregnant, it's not safe." They were wasting time. She was too afraid to look down, afraid to see blood. Her hand went instinctively to cradle her stomach, as she pleaded silently to the universe or whatever god that was listening for the safety of her child.

"Right. I forgot. Floo powder then." He said, his voice barely masking his own panic as he scooped her up gently and carried her to the fireplace.

"I don't need carried." She insisted.

"You're not going alone." He said, grabbing more than enough Floo powder for the both of them.

Fred paced the waiting room, having been kicked out of the emergency room by the nurses. What if there was something wrong? What if they had lost the little one that they had waited so long for? He so wanted to be in there with her. She didn't need to be alone right now.

"Is there any possible way I can be in there with her?" He asked the receptionist at the front desk.

"If the healers needed you to leave, it's for a good reason. I'm sorry."

"Please? Can you at least let me know what's going on?"

She shuffled through the parchment in from of her. "It looks like they're running some tests and keeping a close watch on her. She's in good hands, I promise."

He took a deep breath, resisting the urge to argue further.

"Your first child, isn't it?" The receptionist asked understandingly.

He nodded. "I'm just so worried about them."

"My husband and I were like that with our first. We were here once a week, and she was born perfectly fine. Your wife and child are going to be okay, Mr. Weasley."

He wished he could believe her.

"Your husband is a bundle of nerves right now, Mrs. Weasley, would you like us to let him back in, or would he only cause you stress?" A healer asked her.

"Please let him in." She would feel better with him around.

Fred was long past frantic, and only calmed down after the nurses threatened to kick him out again.

"I'm okay. The baby is okay. Honey, we're okay. We're okay." She replied to his questioning, holding both of his hands in her own. "Everything is okay." She kissed his fingers.

He pressed his lips against her forehead. "I just don't want anything to happen to you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You don't have to worry about that." She replied, putting her arm without the IV in it around his neck. "Everything is okay. I promise." She knew that much at least. Their baby was okay.

Her healer knocked softly on the door before entering. "The ministry did a good job with you two." He chuckled.

"They did." Hermione said, not wanting to correct him. Fred sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand in his.

Fred was impatient. "So what is wrong with her? Is everything okay?"

"I told you, everything is okay." Hermione said, looking up at him. He was starting to worry her a little.

"We've run a full battery of tests, and Mrs. Weasley, as well as Weasley Junior are doing just fine. Everything is as it should be." The healer said, and Fred sighed in relief. "It appears to be just a extremely bad bout of heartburn and indigestion."

"And what causes that?"

"Stress, eating too much, or too fast, things like that. It's a common complaint in many in your condition, especially when their spouses insist that they eat more than necessary."

Hermione gave her husband a pointed look.

"Sorry..." He said, looking rather hurt. Hermione felt bad. He did mean well, after all.

The healer chuckled. "I'm prescribing you some potions to help with this if it continues. The best thing to help is to eat until you are full, your body knows how much it needs more than your husband does." He winked at Fred, who looked like he had made a grave mistake.

She squeezed his hand. "It's okay honey. I promise."

He nodded.

"As soon as your IV is done you can go home Mrs. Weasley, okay? I'll have a nurse come in and help you with that in a few minutes."

"Thank you." Hermione said sweetly, just happy that the whole ordeal was almost over, and that everything was okay.

"Honey, I'm so sorry." Fred said once the healer had left.

"You're okay honey. You were just trying to help."

"I was. I am. I just want you and the baby to be okay."

"I know you do. And the baby and me are going to be fine. I promise."

He brushed a stray hair away from her face. "I love you so much."

"I love you too. Everything is going to be okay. I promise."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because as long as we're together, everything is going to turn out okay, one way or another." She had never been so sure of something in her entire life. She put his hand on her stomach. "We're a family now. Nothing can take that away from us."

Weasley junior (or juniors...) are okay! Hurray! :)

Next chapter is supposed to be Valentine's day, but I'm a little stuck. So I thought I would reach out to you all, my lovely readers. If you have an idea of how Fred or Hermione should surprise each other, let me know, whether it be by message or PM. If you give me an idea I like (whether I use it or not) I'll let you ask me a question about myself, my writing, or this story. I reserve the right to keep back too big of spoilers, but if I can't answer the question, I'll let you ask me a different one. Sound fair? :)

Beyond that, I hope you enjoyed, and as always, please review and tell me what you think!

-Zen and Sirius