Hermione sat bolt upright in bed, heart hammering against her chest. A wetness against her chest startled her as she looked down to see a sodden shirt from the milk that had spilled from her breasts, and it all came flooding back to her. She had birthed two babies. Two very tiny, and premature babies.

In a panic, she panned the room with her steely gaze, trying to push through the fog that clouded her mind. Eyes blurry, she came to the realisation the babies weren't here. Blind panic set in as she sprung from the bed and trudged out of the bedroom and down the long hall.

"Lucius?" she called through the expanse mansion, voice echoing off the walls through the large home. "Where are you?"

Her stomach dropped the further she walked and found not a soul in the home. Had this whole thing been a ruse to get her to birth him an heir, and he had taken off? No. He would never do that. Or would he? Now panic set in as every scenario of what could happen raced through her mind.

"Lucius!" she exclaimed, picking up her pace as she walked further into the belly of the mansion. Bare feet slapped hard against the marble floor.

Moments later, he stepped out of a room, cradling a baby in the crook of his left arm while pressing the index finger on his right hand to his lip. "Honestly woman, you don't need to scream through the place like a banshee, the babies are sleeping." He looked her up and down critically for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "You look like you need a good soak in a hot bath."

"I feel like I need a good soak in a hot bath. My uterus feels as if it's about to fall out, I'm-" she stopped and looked at her soaked shirt, "and I'm lactating like a jersey cow."

She followed Lucius into the room, eyes opened wide in awe as she did so. "It used to be…" he cleared this throat and spoke again, "it was once Draco's nursery, now it can be theirs. I've been in here all-night fixing things and setting it all up," his voice cracked slightly, "of course I had Korbin to help me. He tended to Draco when he was a baby and now, he will help care for ours."

"I feel totally unprepared for them." She looked forlornly at her daughter sound asleep in the mahogany crib, Korbin the House Elf sitting tentatively by her side, ready to spring into action should she stir. Hermione never wanted a House Elf to care for her children, but now, with how he was taking his job so seriously, she wondered if it would be cruel to send him away.

"I knew they were coming, but not this early. I've been so consumed by work I haven't even a moment to organise a single thing for them." A sob tore through her body. "They aren't even twenty-four hours old and I'm already a terrible mother."

Lucius closed the gap between the two, the baby still cradled in his arm. He drew her in with his spare one. "You aren't a terrible mother, Hermione. You are an exceptional mother. You birthed two beautiful, healthy babies into this world. It will be rocky for the first few weeks as we settle into life with them and your hormones are all over the place, but I promise you whatever it is you are feeling now will pass and you will look back and laugh."

Her head buried tightly in his chest, her body heaved with silent sobs and all he could do was hold her against his body and try to comfort her. Deep down, he knew this wasn't the real Hermione. This was the postpartum Hermione, the one where her emotions were wreaking havoc with her head.

Stroking her back in a soothing manner. She continued to sob into his shirt. "I'm sorry," she mumbled against his shirt through sobs. "I'm not usually this weak."

"Showing emotion isn't weak, Hermione. You've bottled everything up for months on end and now you can't hold it in anymore. I feel this has been festering under the surface for a while, and it's all to do with your job."

"My job!" She exclaimed, pulling away from Lucius running the backs of her hands across her tear-stained cheeks, pushing them away, now a distant thought.

"No," Lucius levelled sternly. "You are not running back to work, Hermione. I don't enjoy telling you what to do and I haven't, but now I am putting my foot down. Looking after these two is more important than trying to please those who you know you will never please."

"What are you saying?" She side-eyed him, nostrils flaring slightly.

"Hermione. Stop being so stubborn. I can see in your eyes how worn down you are and how over that job you are. That job isn't worth the early grave it is pushing you towards and you know it. You are the mother of my children and therefore I will look after you from here on in. No wife, future wife or mother to my children will work another day from here on in." He jutted his chin out defiantly. Cold steely gaze held her equally cold one.

Her expression softened as she looked at the tiny bundle in Lucius's arms. Was it worth spending her days at a job that didn't appreciate her and she didn't need to miss her children's lives? She remembered back to her own childhood and how her own parents were always too busy making ends meet to spend time with her. She often remembered how lonely and heartbreaking it was when her parents could never make it to school for special events because they were booked out with root canals and braces. She hated those days, but she always knew her parents did it for her and to better her life.
A long, drawn-out sigh emitted from within her as she slowly came to terms with what she knew was the right thing to do.

"Hermione," Lucius levelled, "Don't feel you are taking advantage of me and take no notice of anyone saying you are gold-digging. You are the mother of my children, and I am forever indebted to you now. Even if we weren't romantically involved, I would have still sent you a large sum of money monthly to cover yours and their living arrangements and I would never have taken no for an answer. A Malfoy always looks after their own."

"Fine." She exhaled sharply out of her nose. "I'll resign. But first, we need to come up with a name for each of these precious babies." She felt odd saying that. She never thought she would have a baby soon, let alone two of them, and to Lucius Malfoy. "I've been thinking…" she trailed off, "I'm not sure what Malfoy naming traditions entail and please stop me if I am getting ahead of myself but what about Quinevere Narcissa for our girl and Lucien Draco for him," she stroked the sleeping babe's cheek gently as he slept peacefully in his father's arms.

Silence filled the room and Lucius turned his back on her to look out of the window across his expanse estate. Shoulders dropping slightly, he still held his son tightly, now jiggling his arm slightly to rock him.

Dread filled Hermione, gnawing in the pit of her stomach as she wondered if what she had said was totally out of line and she had overstepped the boundary. It wasn't until several minutes later when he turned around and she saw a few stray tears pricking at the corners of his eyes that she wondered if she had really messed up.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, looking at the floor. "I have overstepped a line."

He waved a dismissive hand. "On the contrary, my dear. His voice quivered slightly as he spoke, "the fact that you have honoured my late wife and son despite you never really knowing Narcissa, and Draco was horrible to you beyond measure speaks volumes about how selfless you are." He swiped the back of his free hand over his cheeks pushing away the tears.

"I just wanted you to know that even though you have me and now these two, I never expect you to forget your past and the life you had prior to me. Never feel the need to hide your past away for me, the babies or anyone else."

He closed the gap between the two and planted a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Thank you," he whispered. "I appreciate it."

o-o-o-o

Susan intently watched Hermione sign the letter she had just penned. "So, this is it," Susan whispered.

"This is it," Hermione said with a sigh as she dropped the quill onto the desk. "Onwards and upwards from here, I guess." She picked the letter up off the desk and cast her eye over it, quivering hands held the parchment in a vice-like grip. "Is this the right thing to do?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.

"Yes!" Susan exclaimed with no hesitation. "You have babies now; they need you more than anyone else in the world. The next minister will be elected, and you won't even be an afterthought."

Her hand shook violently now, and her throat went dry. Susan reached out and grasped the parchment equally tight as Hermione. "Let. It. Go," Susan demanded, punctuating every word.

"But what if-" Hermione began.

"No. No, if's buts or maybes." She pulled the parchment forcefully from Hermione's clutches, folding it quickly and tucking it into her pocket before Hermione could rip it up.

"If you want it, fight me for it," Susan pushed sternly.

She held her hands up defensively. "You win. Take it away before I crash tackle you to the ground." Hermione smiled at her best friend playfully.

"Your wish is my command," Susan whispered as she backed out of the Malfoy library, clutching her pocket tightly. She didn't want that letter to get lost.

A/N: Hey everyone! Just a quick chapter. I'm not sure there will be many more. Maybe one more I am thinking just to tie everything into a neat little package.

-Aliasmel1