Chapter One-Nephiri's Hope

The scream was heard throughout the entire manner. It seemed to soar across the still air of the warm night. It was so blood curdling even the brooding figure of Tom Riddle Jr. was un-nerved by it. Immediately he stopped his pacing as the tingling it had iliceted from his spine seased. He had been wearing a thin spot on the expensive oriental style rug that ran the length of the hallway for hours. Damn those mid-wives anyway. How long did it take to bring another person into this forsaken world. He kicked in the double cherry wood doors leading to his elaborate private chambers and paled at the sight before him.

The assistant were running back and forth from the bathroom and back to the bed with bowls in there arms, full of bloodied towels. Was that his Nephiri's blood? How dare they treat the wife of Tom Riddle with such disreagard as to not inform him of this much blood loss! Surely the medi-wizards from St. Mungo's should be called immediately. Maybe he could find a potion used for blood loss. Surely they had them. How else would all the vampire victims survive. Did they survive? He couldn't remember any instance now. He was helpless, and he knew it. He also hated it. But he loved the woman on the bed and already, the unborn child within her.

"What the hell is going on in here!" his voice bellowed across the room. He had a hard time getting across the room between dodgeing the assistants and all the damn furniture Nephiri insisted all good society would have in their private chambers. Then he saw her. His Nephiri. She was huddled on the canopied bed, her normally beautiful face contorted into anguished expression. The expensive, and now blood stained silk sheets knotted around her legs as though she'd been thrashing about. Her long dark hair damp with perspiration sticking to her forehead and hanging in her eyes that were at that moment staring daggers at none other than Riddle himself.

The Mid-wife tried in vain to impede his progress into the room.

"Mr. Riddle, I'm afraid I can not allow you in here. We are at a critical....MR. RIDDLE!"

"Nephiri, what's wrong? Is the baby alright?" He sat on the edge and pulled her from her cowering position to sit up in the center of the bed. Surely that would be more conductive to childbirth, wouldn't it? He couldn't help but be worried. That scream sounded like she was dying. She couldn't die. Not his Nephiri. She'd take all that was good in him with her. Along with their unborn child.

"TOM!!"

Nephiri couldn't help the anger in her voice. She couldn't handle the pain. It was going to split her in two, she knew it. How dare he try to encroach upon this anyway! He had no right! This was for her to do. She was the woman here. It was her birthright to do this and with out his interference! She knew she'd pay the price for her insubordination later, but for now, she didn't really care.

"Get out of here Tom! With all do respect, this is mine alone to do."

Riddle couldn't believe his ears. She'd never spoken to him this way. No one had, not in so long as he couldn't remember the last time. Once the child was safely in the world, he'd make sure she'd never do it again. He loved her, but no one belittled or bossed him around. She didn't want his support, that was fine, but he didn't have to sit at the door like a hopeful dog either.

"Very well Nephiri, as you wish." And with that, he exited the room, stormed down the dim lit hall and into his study.

He circled the floor in front of his grand mahogany desk. He could still hear Nephiri over the clicking of his boots across the hardwood floor. Even after her treatment of him, he still worried. What had that woman really done to him! He was getting weak, showing emotion. No one respected a sniveling twit. He had to quit this! With a swish of his wand, Mozart started to play.

He wouldn't think about her anymore. Not until the child was actually here and he had reason and right to enter that room again. He walked around his desk to the credenza behind. He poured himself a stiff scotch from the crystal decanter of his captains set. One of the first gifts Nephiri had ever given him. The thought of her again brought back the dread he felt. He knew women had children every day, but he just couldn't bear to loose her. It was such a risk. Did he even have a right to have asked this of her. He knew she had wanted a child, but now he wondered if she'd just been trying to give yet another gift. He'd have to continue his research. There has to be a way to conquer death. Then, no one would have to leave. Not his mother, not Nephiri, and the higher power willing, his child.

Down the hall, Nephiri was much to preoccupied to be thinking along those lines. She was bringing the last hope for Tom Riddle into the world. If the innocence and unconditional love of a child couldn't pierce the shield he had erected around his heart, nothing could. Nephiri knew that Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. loved her. As much as he could love someone. She just didn't understand how anyone could be so cold, so unfeeling. If he cared for her, and she knew he did, why did he have such trouble showing it. His unhealthy obsetion with never dying was unnerving for her. If only she'd known that it was his love for her and their child that spearheaded his ambition to live forever. He of cource had always wanted to gain power and respect. Any Slytherin worth their salt did, but really, he wanted those things to gain the love he had never had. And it was for that love that he sought for it to never end.