Walk away and I stumble

I want to move the story along a bit now so about four-five maybe even six weeks is going to be squashed nicely into here, hope you enjoy it.

Chapter eight

Harry and Severus' relation had been progressing nicely for the past week, Harry's stomach wasn't getting in the way yet, the baby was only a small bump, barely noticeable so they had been enjoying the increasing hormones often.

Their baby girl was now officially called a foetus and of course they had celebrated with a lot of sex, although it didn't reach crazy naked monkey sex let alone snaky sex or lion sex, it didn't even deserve to be classified as 'crazy'.

It was more, gentle and loving, Severus was being extra careful because he didn't want to hurt the baby even though it was barely an inch long in length.

Poppy had owled them a letter telling them all about ninth week of the pregnancy, apparently it was a critical stage of development for their baby and a time of rapid growth so he had been banned from using magic at all however this was Severus who had put this rule in place not Poppy.

Over the past week Severus had become a little over protective of his lover, this included cooking a lot of food for each and every meal that was available to them, this not only included breakfast lunch and dinner but also luncheon, brunch, afternoon tea, super and then there were the snakes.

Harry however didn't really mind this so much seeing as his appetite had greatly improved recently, also a normal sign of pregnancy. The smells admitting from the food being cooked had even stopped causing him to take a trip to the porcelain goddess, his nausea having almost completely subsided.

There were certain things that did still bother him, Severus, after making sure he extracted each and everyone from Harry had expressly forbidden them from entering the house. This had been a real blow for Harry as he had a real craving for shrimp.

There had been an interesting incident with the take-away restaurant down the street. While Severus had been teaching at Hogwarts Harry had decided that enough was enough, he was carrying this baby and therefore he deserved shrimp so he phoned in an order and then gone wandering off down the street, a baggy hoodie top covering his slightly swollen belly.

When he had arrived the smell of his order made his stomach protest and he had spent an entire twenty minutes of his life explaining to a Chinese man why he was throwing up in his toilet and then a further half an hour asking him to take the shrimp away.

He had learned from this and it had also given Severus a good laugh afterwards after the great lecture about leaving the house of course. Harry was a little sick of being wrapped in bubble wrap constantly, Severus was wearing down his last nerve.

Of course it had occurred to Harry that this was just a cunning (the man was a Slytherin after all) plan for Harry to leave him and then Snape could skip off guilt free. So Harry said nothing, there was a nice element to it however, the feeling of being adored by another human being.

The following week was just as hellish for Harry, not because of the pregnancy but because of Severus, Harry was looking forward to seeing Poppy and having a break from the protectiveness, he was practically being wrapped in bubble wrap the entire time.

He wasn't permitted to do anything without his lover by his side, Severus Snape had gone from cold hearted bastard/sex maniac to a possessive lover/vicar type person who wouldn't have sex if his life depended on it.

This really annoyed Harry seeing as his hormones were raging and all he wanted to do was have sex all the time, it was all he could do not to pounce on his lover every time that he walked into the room.

He managed to become turned on at the slightest thing, for example, when Severus had wandered into their bedroom one evening nothing but a towel covering him Harry had actually jumped him and began to ravish him.

Severus at first had responded but had then thought twice, pushed Harry off, mumbled something and then gone to finish himself off, leaving Harry to do the same, from then he had tried to reframe from putting temptation in Harry's hormonal reach.

The day that Poppy was due Harry had sent Severus out to get groceries as the couldn't exactly survive without them and also clothes for their daughter who they had not discussed names for yet. Harry had expressly forbidden Severus from buying anything black; he refused to have her in any dark, depressing colours. Severus had reluctantly agreed and gone.

So when the medi-witch did appear Harry had baked cake and cookies for them, he had just put it all out in the living room along with a tea pot and tea cups. He felt so privileged to be doing anything remotely like this seeing as anything hot was out of bounds for Harry and the kitchen was a no go area.

He practically threw himself on the medi-witch and hugged her in relief. She only managed to chuckle as he began to explain everything about Severus and how much he was over doing it, he really had gone from one extreme to the other, it was almost unreal.

However Harry had a plan and he was going to follow through on it, hopefully that would stop this ridiculous behaviour.

Harry however didn't tell Poppy his plan, he just allowed her to perform the spell on his belly, the gel like potion extremely cold as always but the baby was perfectly healthy, everything was as it should be, almost all fully developed. Poppy assured Harry that despite that the little one would continue to grow until delivery, meaning Harry was about to get bigger and he was going to do so extremely fast.

As the two of them sat and had tea Harry discovered that his less frequent bathroom breaks that had become overly common recently would wane slightly now since his uterus had shifted upwards however this was only a rest bite as soon the baby would get so big that it would once again press against his bladder.

Unfortunately however along with this blessing he was now starting to have slight headaches and dizzy spells, Poppy once again reassured him that this was perfectly normal at this stage of the pregnancy.

At his stage Severus returned with bags upon bags of baby things, there was varying colours and too Harry's great surprise no black, something that he was extremely happy about. There were dresses and frilly baby suits for a new born; certainly nothing that either Harry or Poppy would have expected Severus to buy.

After Poppy had left Harry sat Severus down to put his plan in action, they had all spent the afternoon admiring the little clothes and draping them over Harry's tiny bump as a joke.

However now it was time to be serious and for Harry to put his plan in action, "Severus we really have to talk." He began, now this isn't exactly the best way to begin a conversation with a lover as they will always expect the worst, those six words have forever been the sign of a break up soon to come.

"Okay, have I done something to upset you Harry, if I did I didn't mean it." Severus asked sitting down next to his boyfriend on the soft leather couch.

"No, no, you've done nothing wrong; I just want you to do something for me is all."

"I'd do anything for you Harry, what is it?"

"I want you to get in contact with your former lover and your child."

Severus was flabbergasted, "what, you want me to what?"

"I don't want you to realise that you love him and your child more than me and your daughter but I want you to establish contact with your other child."

"You want me to establish contact with my twelve year old son who doesn't know that I am his father, that I have to watch every day of the school year because Ian decided to send him there."

"He's at Hogwarts?"

"Yes, why did you ask this of me?"

"Because I wanted our daughter to have contact with her brother, that's all, nothing drastic, I just wanted your son … what's his name?"

"Jonathan,"

"I just wanted Jonathan to be recognized as a part of our family, is that so wrong?"

"Yes, Ian has married Harry, Jonathan recognizes this other man as his father and I am happy to leave it at that, I do not desire to drag up the past, it would only hurt both Ian and Jonathan, something I am sure that you do not want."

"No, I don't want to hurt them but I think that they have a right to know, how about …"

"No, I won't allow it Harry, not a chance, now drop it okay."

Harry nodded however he really didn't mean it and had every intention of writing to Ian and informing him of there daughter who was Jonathan's baby sister.

Another week past and Harry had been able to secretly attain Ian's address so that he could owl him, I would explain how he managed this but there are far more interesting things that I can be getting on with.

As a couple, Harry and Severus had started to discuss names for their daughter, nothing had yet to be decided. "Emma"

Harry shook his head, "Emily"

"Not so keen, Madison"

"Nice but not so sure I want to call our daughter that, Olivia"

"Not bloody likely, Hannah"

"Too common, Abigail"

"Ew, Isabella"

"Not a chance, Ashley"

Severus gave a disgusted look, "Samantha?"

"That's pretty but how about … Elizabeth?"

"The muggle queen I don't think so …. Arwen, I was always a lord of the rings fan."

"You a lord of the rings fan, who would have thought, it's a nice name to be fair but not really what I was think of, how about Chloe?"

"Not sure, I always liked Ava"

"But I don't, what about Sarah or Grace?"

"Far too common for a child of mine, my cousin was called Alyssa, I always liked that."

"That is certainly a possibility, how about Kayla?"

"I like it, okay, Kayla but we still need a middle name for her, Jessica, Sophia, what do you think?"

"Kayla Sophia Potter"

"Potter-Snape"

"Okay, you win, Kayla Sophia Potter Snape."

Harry and Severus were certainly in high spirits as now Harry was officially in his second trimester, his stomach still wasn't getting in the way and they had celebrated by going out, Harry wearing a baggy jumper to cover Kayla.

It had been such a pleasant evening out and afterwards they had strolled along the street hand in hand, to Harry it had been great, it had showed him that Severus really was in love with him even if he never admitted it and wouldn't even when under the influence of veritiserum.

Twelve weeks into Harry's pregnancy and his stomach had grown at an alarming rate and it was still growing much to Severus' amusement and Harry's discomfort. According to the visit from Poppy the previous day Kayla was approximately three and a half inches long and had begun practicing inhaling/exhaling movements.

However on the plus side the pregnancy hormones that had been causing Harry to jump on Severus had levelled off however because of that Harry had a slight problem with constipation, not something that is a very enjoyable topic to discuss so I won't gross you out with details but lets just say Severus avoided the bathroom after Harry had used it.

By the fourteenth week Harry began to giggle at the moments in his belly, they weren't regular, apparently this was because it was Harry's first pregnancy and therefore Severus hadn't had the joy of feeling them also.

In the scan that Poppy had given them it had shown Kayla sucking her thumb, it had been the most adorable thing ever, however it had all been spoilt as Voldemort had shown his ugly face and attacked the muggle world.

It was only a matter of time before he moved on to the wizarding world, right now killing muggle's was fun for his deatheater's and it was also sending Harry an unvoiced message. 'Come out and play'.

Harry however for obvious reasons wasn't willing to oblige like he normally would have done, according to Poppy Dumbledore was going mad looking for him, he was threatening to banish Poppy from Hogwarts if she didn't tell him but Poppy had held her ground on that one.

"You can't let him know Poppy, he'll force me to fight, baby and all, he won't care."

"I know, he does not think that the baby is important but I do, I won't allow either you or Kayla to come to harm do not fret, worry isn't healthy right now Harry, I am sure that Severus would never allow it. His disappearance has already caused enough of an uproar, there are rumours that he has returned to the dark lord."

"That's ridiculous, Severus would never go back to him, who on earth would anyone think that?"

"You know what Rita Skeeter is like, anything for a story."

"That whore, I'll kill her myself!"

"Calm down love" Severus said from the doorway. "She can be dealt with later, besides the wizarding world can think what it likes, besides, I may just go back and fight."

"You will do no such thing" Harry protested.

"And why not"

"Because as soon as Kayla is born I'm going back and ending it myself."

"Not a chance in hell"

"You think your going to stop me?"

"I will find a way if I have to, you will not lumber me with Kayla."

"Lumber? Did you just say lumber? She isn't a burden Severus, she's a blessing." Severus said nothing, "You bastard, fine, go back to Hogwarts, go and fight this damn war but if you do don't expect to come back into this house."

"Harry …"

"Don't you dare take that tone with me Severus; I have every right to be mad."

"You know full well that I never wanted Kayla, I'm doing this for you, because I care about you, I want to be with you."

"Then why can you not tell me that you love me, why do you always say that you care, it isn't good enough any more Severus I need to hear you tell me that you love me." Severus was silent, not a word escaped his lips, this only seemed to enrage Harry further. "Fine, if you can't say it then leave."

"Harry … please."

"No, you don't love Kayla and never will, you claim to 'care' for me but you can't tell me that you love me, I don't know why I even bothered."

"You bothered Harry because you love me"

"Yes, I do and at least I'm man enough to admit that, you hide from your feelings and run from your responsibilities, go and fight in this damn war see if I care but I want you nowhere near my daughter."

"Can we not talk about this, your hormonal and not thinking clearly?"

"HORMONAL!" Harry shouted before picking up a plate that contained cup cakes that he had baked earlier and threw them at Severus', who ducked, they only barely missed his head. "I AM NOT HORMONAL, I'M FUCKING PISSED OFF!"

"He's right Severus, hormonal imbalance isn't until later" Poppy said, she had been sitting on the sofa watching the argument escalate.

"Poppy please leave," Severus requested however before the medi-witch responded Harry did for her.

"No, Poppy you can stay, this conversation is over, Severus is leaving."

"Actually I should be going, Severus I think you had better accompany me back to Hogwarts for the time being, Harry evidently needs some space."

Fear not people of earth I come in peace and Severus will be back, I'm just sick of stories where they lead perfect happy lives, relationships aren't all peachy and families don't always stay together. Don't forget to review.