Bellatrix rushed into St. Mungos followed by her wife not stopping to ask for assistance. They took the lifts up to the muggle medicine wing and proceeded straight into room 413. "Has she been scanned by the cats yet?" Bella yelled as they entered the room which was currently being occupied by nobody. "Well that was anticlimactic."

"Who were you expecting?"

"At least I thought her husband would be here. Maybe Draco. I don't know," Bella sounded frustrated. "Stupid girl. I told her to wait," Bella started pacing in the spot the hospital bed should've been placed.

"You are here," Harry said entering the room. "They just took Kate down for her cat scan.

Bella turned to Hermione with a smug look, "yes. I called that, didn't I? You muggles always need to scan people with cats."

Hermione rolled her eyes but still smiled, "I think what my wife was trying to say is how is Kate? And what the hell happened? We were only gone for a week."

"We aren't sure," Harry look nervously at Bella. "Draco wasn't there when she was attacked.

"He what?" Bella's head snapped around quicker than anyone could've predicted. "And just where was my nephew when his partner was being assaulted?"

"Bella," Hermione walked over and tried to talk her down. "Calm down, please. We don't know the whole story. No need to get riled up prematurely."

Bella narrowed her eyes at the brunette then turned back to Harry, "well where was he?"

"Umm," Harry looked around nervously.

"Okay," Bella nodded and looked at Hermione, "it seems to me the anger is going to be justified. I tried it your way. Now. Where. Was. Draco?"

"They were in a store looking around."

"And?"

"And he got a call from the medical examiner and stepped outside to take the phone call."

"I'll kill him," Bella kicked the rolling stool across the floor. "He knew she was a flight risk. Why? Why? Would he take his eyes off of her? And," she turned and started stalking over towards Harry, "why did you approve of this little outing?"

"Kate said they were going out for lunch."

"AND you LET them?!" Bella shouted, throwing her hands up in the air.

Hermione pulled on Bella's arm and dragged her over to the chairs, "people eat lunch, love. Harry couldn't have known that Kate was planning anything and yes, I agree Draco shouldn't have left Kate but he probably needed to take that phone call."

Bella sighed, "I told you I hate when you use reason and logic with me." She took a moment to steady her breathing. She didn't want to get overly worked up and cause Hermione any added stress. After the conception potion last night, they both decided they would take it easy for the two weeks to try to promote the little bean sticking to the womb so Bella agreed she would try harder to calm herself. She whispered, "I'm guessing this is what you were talking about last night?"

"Maybe," Hermione kissed her wife on the cheek. "We just need to remember to breathe and center ourselves."

Bella looked at her skeptically, "you do know who you are talking to right?"

"My beautiful and loving wife who would do anything for me?"

"Don't give me the Bambi eyes," Bella whined. "Fine. Potter," he turned to look at them. "I promise I won't kill Draco. I may smack him around a little bit but he won't die today. I do need to hear the story from him as well."

Hermione shrugged, "personal growth has to start somewhere."

"Right," Harry pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to Draco to let him know that his aunt wouldn't be killing him today. When he received an immediate reply, he laughed, "he said he doesn't believe you."

"Typical," Bella rolled her eyes. "Fine, tell the coward to see me first thing in the morning." Harry texted Draco letting him know he was off the hook. "Do I have to behave this way the entirety of your pregnancy, pet?" Bella whispered to her wife.

"Well," Hermione smiled, "you kind of promised last night."

"Fuck me," she wiped a hand down her face. "You'll have made me go soft by the end of this."

"What are you guys talking about?" Harry came and sat down with them.

"None of your business, Potter. Now, how is Kate?"

"Well we've only been here for five or six hours and there's been no change."

"I guess it was thoughtful of her to wait to fuck up the day we were returning."

"Quite. The St Mungo witches looked her over and couldn't find any magical ailments just as Draco suspected in the field so after those tests she was brought here to the muggle wing and they've started testing but haven't told me anything."

"What about her husband or family?"

"Kate's parents are dead and her husband was out of town on business. He's flying back to London but won't be in until tomorrow. He said he'd call when he got home so one of us could pop in over here."

"Flying home? How inconvenient it must be to be a muggle," Bella rolled her eyes. "Has Kate said anything?"

Harry grimaced, "she hasn't actually woken up yet."

"Well," Bella looked over at Hermione, "we have some experience with brain injuries."

"Oh gosh," Hermione wrung her wrists. "I do hope she's okay."

"Was there any evidence at the crime scene?"

Harry shook his head no, "none that the aurors could find. Draco and I or me and you can go search tomorrow. I thought it was best to stay with Kate today."

Bella nodded, "okay then. We wait."

Two hours and a multitude of muggle testing later, Kate's hospital bed was wheeled back into the room by a male orderly. He didn't say anything to them when he was leaving and that almost set Bella off on another tangent. "What a rude little Muggle man. Did he not know who was sitting in here? Not only is Bellatrix Druella Black heiress to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black in here but so is Hermione Jean Black Minister for Magic."

"Oh I get an official title now, do I?"

"Of course you fucking do. You are a very important lady and I'll have to tell that muggle when he comes back in," the dark witch scoffed.

Bella walked over to the hospital bed after she was sure nobody was going to come in. Kate looked at peace though she was bruised on her face and arms and she had a weird tube coming out of her throat. "You stupid girl," she shook her head while reaching down and squeezing Kate's cold hand. "Hey love?"

"Yeah?" Hermione looked up from her phone.

"What's this?"

"What's what?" Hermione walked over and stood next to her wife. "Oh. Well," she looked down at her friend and gave her a small, sad smile.

"Oh no." Bella shook her head. "I don't like that face you just gave Kate. That's the face you make before you say something I'm not going to like."

"Maybe we should wait for the doctor," Hermione tried to lead Bella back over to the chairs.

"No. You know what this is so go on then," she crossed her arms, "educated me."

"It's a tube. I believe it's called a tracheostomy. It's helping Kate breath."

"That's correct," Dr. Hoffman called from the door. She greeted the two women.

"No offense Doctor but I thought you were a brain specialist. That's not her brain."

"No," Dr. Hoffman smiled and checked the charts, "I was called in because there was a lot of skull bruising and repeated blows to the back of Kate's skull so they wanted to make sure she didn't have a severe brain injury like your fiancé did."

"It's wife now," Bella corrects the doctor who just nodded and continued.

"You see it seems Kate was strangled. She had multiple wounds on the back of her head but the CT scan didn't show any brain abnormalities."

"That's good then, so why does she have this?" Bella pointed to the tube coming from her neck.

"Well," Dr. Hoffman looked grim. "When she was strangled, her airway was cut off for a substantial amount of time, her esophagus and and larynx were crushed and because of all of that, her left lung collapsed."

"Oh fuck," Bella looked at her wife for something to say.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Well she will need to have surgery to fix her esophagus and larynx. As for the collapsed lung, this tube is helping to correct that as we speak."

"She's in a coma?"

"She's on a lot of pain medication currently," the doctor said. "She will probably be out of it for a while. We want to get her in for the surgery as soon as possible but we are waiting for her husband to arrive. When she wakes up she won't be able to speak. It might be difficult. However, with the blunt force trauma to the back of her head, we wouldn't be surprised if there was amnesia present when she wakes."

"Well fuck," Bella went over and sat down.

The doctor stayed and talked to Bella and Hermione for a while, filling them in on everything that's been done for Kate so far and their proposed surgery plan as well as the prognosis and outcomes. Bella had insisted that she wanted to stay with Kate until her husband came or someone else came for her. She couldn't leave her alone without anyone, "what if she wakes up and nobody is here for her?"

"You do care about her?" Hermione smiled.

"Absolutely not. I'm only thinking of how the department would look when her husband shows up and nobody is here," Bella scoffed and looked away.

"Sure," Hermione patted her wife's hand. "It is okay for you to care for her."

"I don't care for Kate," she growled out. "I only have the best interests of the department in mind. I assure you."

"Bella…"

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "Maybe I care a little bit but if you tell anyone…"

"Are you going to threaten your wife with an unforgivable?"

"Of course not," Bella's mouth dropped. "I was only going to say that I would deny this conversation ever took place and obliviate us all."

"Fair enough."

Bella sat up in her chair and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind Hermione's ear, "I'd never do that to you. Well I suppose I have but never now."

"Love," Hermione reached over and cupped Bella's cheek, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," she shook her head. "I'm just feeling a bunch of different feelings right now and it's hard to process them all."

"Do you want to talk about any of them?"

Bella turned her head and placed three kisses into Hermione's palm. "Being in this environment just skyrockets me back to your accident and what a horrible shitty time that was. And of course that shifts me back to what a horrible shitty person I was for us to have ended up there in the first place. If it wasn't for me… Umbridge wouldn't have taken you. So that obviously sends me back thinking about where we started and how we started and that not so glorious moment of mine at Malfoy Manor."

"You aren't that witch anymore, Bella."

"But I am, love. I just know how to control myself now," another kiss to Hermione's palm before she moved her head away from her hand and back against the wall.

"You aren't," she lifted her sleeve up and shared her scar free arm. "You are the love of my life and I refuse to let you think of yourself in any way other than the truly wonderful witch that you are."

She sighed, closed her eyes and quietly spoke, "I just want Kate to be okay. We need her."

Silence fell over the two as Bella retreated back into her feelings and Hermione didn't want to push her to open up more than she had. When Bella started to think about her dark days, she knew that her wife just needed time to process her thoughts herself. They sat and held hands as they listened to the breathing noises coming from Kate's various machines. "Would you like me to leave?" She asked Bella as it was nearing night.

The older woman jarred awake as she must have closed her eyes for a moment too long. "No," she smiled at her wife. "But I think you should." She looked down at Hermione's stomach. "You need to get some rest. 13 more days." She smiled and placed a hand on Hermione's belly. "You should go home. Get some sleep. And for the love of Merlin, don't tell Andy I'm here or she'll insist that she comes spend time with me and that's the last thing I need tonight."

Hermione kissed her wife before nodding and standing, "goodnight, love. I'll see you tomorrow. Text me if you get lonely."

Bella smiled and said her goodbyes then looked over at Kate, "if I find out you are here because you didn't something rash and stupid, you better pray you never wake up. Fucking hufflepuffs. Dumbledore was an idiot."

Bella woke up the next morning to a barrage of nurses, doctors and orderlies coming in to check on Kate, read her machines, take her blood and just generally bother the absolute piss out of Bella. She had woken up with a stiff neck. "51 is the age you are too old to be sleeping all night upright in a hospital chair," she expressed her pain to Hermione when she stopped by on her way to the office with a change of clothes, a pepper up potion, a phone charger, breakfast and coffee for the dark witch.

"Rubbish. The athleticism you displayed in the hotel room was enough to tell me 51 isn't too old to do anything," Hermione whispered in her ear.

"Feeling cheeky this morning?"

"I may have woken up a little horny," Hermione confessed in a whisper. "Had to take care of things myself before I got ready for work."

Bella groaned and flitted her eyes to Kate, "babe, not in front of the employee."

"Who are trying to kid? You love it when I talk dirty," she leaned over further, giving Bella a full display of her lacy bra. She whispered, "I was so wet. And when I was touching myself?" She saw the older woman quirk an eyebrow, "I was thinking about how thoroughly you ate me out the first night of our honeymoon."

Another groan escaped Bella's lips. She exhaled sharply and spoke, her voice husky, "you better clear out of here Minister Black or I'll make sure you are late for work. My sister won't be in for a while and I'm sure we can make good use of her office."

"Call me minister again and I might take you up on that…"

"Tonight. Minister. I'll fuck you properly."

Hermione smiled at her wife before giving in and leaving but not before Bella could swat her ass on the way out.

"Hey," Narcissa came in around noon to check on Kate. "What are you doing here? Have you been here all night?"

"Well I couldn't leave her alone now could I?" she rolled her eyes as her youngest sister did a magical diagnostic scan of Kate.

"Everything looks good magically. It's all muggle ailments. Do they know when they are going to do the surgery?"

"When Mark gets in. Harry said he was landing soon and he was waiting at Kate's house for him. Welcome back from your business trip, your wife is mangled now."

Narciss walked over and sat down next to her sister, "Draco said she snuck away from him. He feels just terrible that this happened to her."

"Really?" Bella raised an eyebrow, "because I've been here since I got back yesterday and I haven't seen him make an appearance yet."

"Well," Cissy smirked, "he's also afraid that you are going to kill him."

"Valid," Bella shrugged, "but I just need to know what happened."

"He's at the office. They were going over the evidence and waiting on the medical examiner to finish up with Kate's belongings."

Bella nodded, "after Mark gets here I'll go to the office and scare him a little."

Narcissa shook her head and rolled her eyes, "don't be too hard on him." She smiled when she saw the little smile cross Bella's lips. "So you got back yesterday and came straight here? How was America? Honestly, I didn't think you'd survive."

"I went on a subway, Cissy. I almost didn't make it back."

"A subway? What's that?"

"It was literally hell. The smells, the people, the speed. If it would've been a longer journey surely I would avadaed myself right then and there surrounded by all of those smelly muggles."

"And," Cissy had that smile on her face that Bella knew she wasn't going to like the next thing out of her mouth. "Did you use the potion?"

"We had a lot of sex."

"That's not what I asked. You won't scare me away with the sex talk this time, Bella. I'm immune to it by now."

"Hmm," she looked at her nails. "Challenge accepted. I guess we just need to have more creative sex in more public locations where you just happen to walk by."

"Bella!" Cissy all but shouted.

"What?" She shouted back in an equally frustrated tone.

"Did you use the potion?"

Bella smiled, "Hermione doesn't want anyone to know."

Cissy gave her a knowing smile, "your secret is safe with me."

A knock sounded on the door and Harry walked in followed by a man who rushed past Harry over to the hospital bed. "That must be Mark," Bella studied the man as he threw himself on Kate, crying publicly in front of people he had never met before. "Muggles are quite emotional little things, aren't they?" She whispered to her sister as they watched the display in front of them.

"Bella… shush," her sister hissed at her.

"I'm not wrong. Just look at him," they both turned to look at the man, and tilted their heads in the same direction as they watched a grown man sob over the girl in the bed.

Harry joined the two and looked at Mark, "are you telling me you didn't do that when it was Hermione in that situation?"

"Are you asking me if I openly sobbed over my then fiancé in the presence of others?" Harry nodded, "that's a ridiculous assumption, Potter. After all these years of me trying not to actively kill you, you'd think that you'd know me better than that."

"Bellatrix Druella Black would never openly sob in public," Cissy shrugged.

"Of course I wouldn't. I would carry all of my emotions and bury them deep inside until one of two things happened, I lit the place of fire or I was alone and could process my emotions that way."

"See," Cissy smiled, "personal growth. She didn't light the muggle hospital on fire."

"Honestly," Bella rolled her eyes. "It's like I never get any praise over my accomplishments thus far in life."

"Forgive me for assuming you would've sobbed in public."

"I'll think about it, Potter. Don't let it happen again."

After what seemed like hours, the tall blonde man finally untangled himself from Kate and approached the three other people standing and watching the display. He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and seemed unfazed by the situation. "Hi. Mark," he held his hand out in front of Bella.

She stared at his hand for a moment before Harry nudged her and she rolled her eyes and took his hand, "Bella. Uh, thanks for the maps and stuff," she awkwardly grinned at him and let go of his hand. Narcissa introduced herself to Kate's husband after Bella failed to do so.

"Did the doctors give you any information?"

"Yes actually," Bella started to speak up when the other two grimaced because of her lack of filter. "She was already scanned by the cats to search her brain for abnormalities and swelling. Congrats, the cats didn't find any. But Kate here has a collapsed lung which is why she has that thing in her neck. Hermione knew what it was called. I didn't bother to recall that information," she saw a look of worry cross Mark's face and she snapped her fingers to get his attention turned back onto her. "Oh yeah she also has a ruptured esophagus and a crushed larynx. So she probably won't be able to talk after the surgery they are writing to you to sign off on. Oh and the back of her head was hit repeatedly so she probably won't remember any of us when she wakes up." She walked over to him and reached up to pat his shoulder, "welcome back to London, Mark. It sucks here." Mark stood looking at the three of them but failed to find anything to say. Bella nodded that he looked like he was going to start crying again. "Why isn't he blinking? Surely muggles blink. I know I've seen Jack and Katherine blink at least once."

"He might be in shock," Harry whispered.

"Yeah you did just offer him loads of information," she looked at Harry. "Help him sit down."

Harry nodded and helped to guide Mark to one of the chairs. "Shocks easily," Bella told Narcissa like she was meant to do something with that information but when her youngest sister was just staring at her she rolled her eyes and continued in a whispered voice, "shocks easily. Write that down as another reason why muggles are inferior to us."

The 13 days had passed surprisingly quickly. Before Bella knew it, it was the day Hermione was meant to take her pregnancy test later at home. While the week had gone by in a blur, a lot of things had happened. Kate had her surgery only a few days ago. They had to keep pushing the surgery back while they were waiting for her lung to get strong enough for her to be put under. She came out relatively unscathed. However, she still hadn't woken up yet. The doctors weren't sure about the status of her possible amnesia but knew that she wouldn't be able to talk for a while after she woke up. They were waiting to wake her up after her lung healed so they could take the tracheostomy tube out and not shock the girl. Bella went and visited Kate everyday during her lunch or after her shift not because she cared for the girl but because it looked good for the department. She was holding onto that notion and nobody was buying it but it made her feel better. The team at the DMLE hadn't had any leads on what happened that day in Diagon. Their only hope was that when Kate woke up, they would be able to get an accurate retelling from her or be able to see into her mind. Of course, that would depend on what happened when she woke up. Bella held up her end of the deal and didn't murder Draco when he finally dragged his ass back into Bella's office three days after she got home from her honeymoon. He used the excuse that Astoria was feeling I'll from her pregnancy and that he needed to take some time off to stay with her. Bella called bullshit on that excuse but let it slide because she was feeling generous. When he did come in and recounted the events of the day in question, he admitted to being a complete idiot and Bella was satisfied with that.

"Dragon. Get it in here," Bella yelled from inside of her office. It was nearing six and she was meant to already be at home. Hermione was having the elves cook a special dinner for them then they were going to take the pregnancy test.

"You needed to see me, aunt Bella?" Draco popped his head.

"Yes. I need you to stop by the hospital on your way home and check in on Kate for me." He nodded but didn't say anything. "Something to say, Dragon?"

"No. It's just. Isn't her husband there?"

"Your point?" She crossed her arms.

"You go to the hospital everyday. Kate isn't even close to waking up. Why do you go?"

"Funny you should ask that." She raised a perfectly sculpted brow. "Shouldn't you be the one with all the festering guilt? Seems it was an oversight on your part that got Kate in this mess in the first place."

"That's not fair," Draco frowned. "You know Kate had her mind set. I shouldn't have taken that phone call and yes it eats me alive every night. I can barely sleep because all I see is Kate laying in the alleyway looking so small. I'm sorry that it happened and if I could change everything that happened that day I would but it's not possible. I care for Kate and I would give anything to change that bloody day."

Bella sighed and wiped her hand down her face, "look. I'm sorry Dragon. I know that this is hard for you too. I knew she was going to do something when I was gone but I didn't expect this. Coming home from the best week of my life to see someone I care for laying in a hospital bed was jarring to say the least. I don't blame you. Mark doesn't blame any of this on the department. I just need you to do this for me tonight. I can't make it and my gut is telling me that someone needs to be there. Please, just go to the hospital even if it's for half an hour. I just need someone to see Kate today. Can you do that for me?"

Draco nodded, "sure I'll head there now." He started to leave the office, "any chance you'll tell me what's so important that you are up to tonight?"

"Fuck off before I'm not so nice to you," Bella smirked. "Send me a message later if there's anything I should know." He nodded and left the DMLE. Bella sent a quick text to Hermione to let her know that she'd be home in 20 minutes and to apologize for getting backed up at work. She quickly finished up the last of her paperwork and reports that had been sitting and collecting dust while she was off work. She gathered up her stuff and left the office for the evening. "Hermione?" She called when she stepped out of the floo at Black Manor. The house was quiet as she expected. Andy and Teddy were over at Cissy's having dinner but she expected Hermione to be around when she came home. After hanging her cloak in the closet, Bella walked into the dining room and saw dinner sitting on the table but still no Hermione. She saw Twiggy and Winky standing off to the side of the room giving her strange looks. "What's the matter?" She asked in a tone that had the elves shake a little.

"Mistress Hermione has told us to leave her and to tell you not to come," Twiggy approached her mistress.

"What? That's just ridiculous. Where's Hermione?"

"In your bedroom Miss but I wouldn't go. She said not to," Winky squeaked.

"No," Bella shook her head. "Help yourself to whatever you want." She nodded towards the food, "and go ahead and take the rest of the night off. Thank you." She excused herself and quickly made her way up the backstairs taking them two at a time. She slowly opened the bedroom and didn't see her right away as all of the lights were out. Bella noticed a light shining from under the bathroom door so she moved quickly and opened the door. Hermione was sitting against the base of the tub with her head in her hands which were propped against her knees. "Love?" The brunette looked up and it was clear that she had been crying. "What's the matter?" Bella quickly slid into the spot next to her wife, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her into an embrace. The younger witch let loose a flood of tears. "Shh," she tried to console her, rubbing her fingers through the long brunette hair. "Whatever it is, it's going to be okay."

Hermione's sobs turned into sniffles and she eventually relaxed against her wife and she mumbled something. "What was that?" Bella pulled back slightly so she could look at Hermione. Her puffy, tear stained eyes broke Bella's heart. She reached down and wiped the tears away with the back of her finger. "What happened?"

Hermione hung her head, "I got my period."

Realization hit Bella quickly. The potion didn't work and Hermione was not okay. "I'm sorry, dove. I was sure it would work, too." She pulled her back into her neck so the younger woman could get comfort from the warmth of her skin. "It's not the end. We can always have Cissy make another batch. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get pregnant."

Hermione whispered, "I thought for sure it worked. I felt different these past two weeks." She sighed, "wishful thinking I suppose. I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"For failing."

Bella's heart broke a little more, "now listen here," she kissed the top of Hermione's head. "I won't have any of that talk. Nobody failed at anything. We just need to have another go."

"How long do we have to wait?"

Bella chuckled at her wife's eagerness to get this right, "well the potion takes three weeks to brew. I can discreetly ask Cissy to brew us some more as soon as possible."

"She's coming for dinner next week right? We can just ask her then."

Bella kissed Hermione's forehead, "whatever you want, my love. Come on now," she got up from the floor and started to run a hot bath, "let's get you into the bath for a nice relaxing soak." She turned on the middle faucet that let the bubble liquid pour into the tub. The room filled with the smell of lavender and the brunette stood. She helped Hermione undress and get into the steaming waters. "I'll go down to the kitchens and get some ice cream and we can snuggle in bed."

She turned to leave when the quiet voice of her wife stopped her, "please stay with me." Bella nodded and left the room quickly but remained in Hermione's eyesight so she could call for Twiggy to bring up all of the ice cream they had and some spoons. Bella quickly moved around the room and came back in wearing a silky dressing gown, glasses perched on her nose and carrying a book of poetry. Bella sat down on the edge of the bath and started to recite some of Hermione's favorite poems, lightly stroking her wife's arm as she read.

"We can try again," was the last whispered words Hermione spoke before closing her eyes as Bella's soft voice lulled her to sleep.