Chapter 34 - Daniel Evanston


Lizzie paced for almost half an hour on the sidewalk at the base of a townhouse porch in London. Her thumb nail was chewed to the skin and her other hand clawed at her stomach both aggressively and protectively.

Why can't you just go back? She thought over and over like a broken record on a wobbly turnstile. She'd imagined it so many times, sometimes the home was different, where at times it was shell cottage, other times Grimmauld Place, she didn't know what home was but the situation was the same nonetheless. She imagined herself painfully waking up before her child because not even being a mother could make her a morning person, wandering downstairs for a gallon of coffee before the day started, and seeing Charlie boiling water on the stove. He'd ask her if she wanted some, and she'd freeze in place but nod to keep him happy while she rubbed a pair of lightly bruised wrists before retreating to the bathroom.

Once there she'd lock the door, take down her knickers, and wince at a familiar pain in her groin. The baby would cry for too long upstairs while she sat there in mental paralysis. The lock wouldn't deter him from coming in to scold her for not tending to the baby, that they must be hungry. So she'd oblige, unbutton her shirt once back in the bedroom to expose bruised breasts, and by the time she'd make it back to the kitchen the coffee would be cold.

Lizzie paced more aggressively trying to shake off the images she knew were unfair and only serving to further her own torment. She watched herself apprehensively climb into bed every night with eyes fixed on his hands and the belt on the wall, and hold her breath through every sliver of intimacy making every effort not cry because it might make him angry.

Charlie was older than her, quite a bit older, but his face was looking even more so in her mind these days as her brain struggled to distinguish him from the type of person she would have been long-married to by now had she been trapped in Cyprian Council. Sometimes she saw Damien and was furious with herself for being unfair to the person she knew she loved. She'd never even told him so herself. She was regretting that. Her brain was turning him into someone he wasn't and she felt guilty for allowing it.

Which is what made where she was right now, worse. She sucked in a breath of air and startled when the door opened. Dudley might have startled harder than she did. He had keys in his hand, a bag on his shoulder, and a button down shirt and tie, with trousers and dress shoes like he was going to work.

"Lizzie?" He asked, confused.

"I'm - I'm leaving, have a good day," she said suddenly with a dry voice. He looked a lot more like his dad than she remembered.

"Stop," he said rather shortly, and she did, but didn't turn around.

"I heard about what you - did - do you want coffee or something? Jenny already made some. I can be late to work, it pays crap anyway," he said. Lizzie frowned to herself.

"You're married?" She asked, turning around to look at him again.

"Erm. No. Just come inside, please," he said and gestured a friendly wave. She stared for a moment but what she was reading from him made no sense and she obliged more out of curiosity.

Lizzie entered the house awkwardly and slipped off her shoes at the door. She looked around and it was very well kept, not unlike their childhood house on Privet Drive. She could see the left side of a girl about her height and size in the kitchen wearing a dusty green colored, knee length dress, blonde hair pulled up in a high pony.

She turned around to see why Dudley had come back and frowned when she noticed another person. Dudley gestured Lizzie to the sitting area.

"You can sit," he said a little curtly and he must have noticed immediately that it struck a chord with Lizzie. "Sorry - um - please sit - that wasn't permission, it just came out..." he said awkwardly. Lizzie shook her head to indicate he didn't have to worry about it offending her and sat down on a blue upholstered couch.

"Azalea?" The young woman asked from the archway into the the kitchen. Lizzie looked up and frowned at a familiar face.

"Janine?" She asked, feeling confused. Dudley looked at his feet and shuffled slightly.

"Hey, Jenny, you mind getting her some coffee, I just want to talk to my cousin for a minute," he said apologetically. She nodded and disappeared into the other room. Lizzie looked around him when she heard feet on the stairs and saw a girl no older than three standing in the hallway.

"Danny, waffles?" She asked, rubbing tired eyes in footsie pajamas with little clouds on them. She had strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Go ask mommy, honey," he said sweetly and Lizzie's stomach somersaulted. He turned around to see Lizzie shaking her head in disbelief.

"What - are you doing here?" He asked after a short pause.

Lizzie laughed weakly. "You're going to have to go first, Duds, I'm too confused to remember why I'm here," Lizzie said.

He smiled weakly and sat down across from her, leaning his elbows on his knees. He looked older and more like his father than she remembered. He was still bulky but not chunky like he used to be. He had a hardened and less complacent expression on his face.

"First, I'm going by Daniel, Daniel Evanston. Janine is going by Jennifer. That's her daughter Ivy, but she's going by Allison," he explained.

"I know why you have an alias, but what about them?" Lizzie asked.

"Do you remember Dennis Landry?" He asked. Lizzie nodded. He was Petunia's primary care lady-doctor at the church-affiliated medical center. Lizzie went to one or two of those appointments if Claire couldn't watch her.

"Well, Janine is Janine Landry...and Ivy is his daughter," he said and Lizzie started to catch the drift. Janine came back into the room with Ivy at her heels and set down some coffee.

"You hungry? I'm making waffles..." she asked.

"No, thank you, I'm fine," Lizzie said with a faint smile.

"Jenny, do you mind if I tell Lizzie about Dennis, she might be able to help..." he asked. Janine nodded but clenched her jaw and left the room with the little girl holding onto the hem of her dress.

Dudley exhaled into his hands not knowing where to start. "I know you killed my dad," he said finally. Lizzie took too big of a sip of coffee when he said it and burned her tongue, which was punctuated with a harsh profanity. "I - don't - blame you," he said with a sigh like a deflated balloon as his face sunk into sadness.

Lizzie set down the cup with a trembling hand. "I'm not a Cyprian pedophile vigilante, Dudley, where is this going?" Lizzie asked.

"I just wanted you to know that the summer you left for good... and I don't want to know what they did to you because what I overheard him and that creep chat about later made me physically ill... he lost it on mum. I think they were scared about whatever protection was broken and he did something to silence her because she didn't speak a word. He would get buligerent about it, break glasses inches from her head to get her to speak but she just crumbled..." Lizzie's eyes got wide as he explained.

"She let them torture him. She told them he knew where you were... and I think that did her in. I found her... when she..." he said and his voice lost sound as he continued.

"Dudley... I'm... so sorry," Lizzie said as her heart raced at the thought.

"She had a picture of her and your mum crumpled up in her hand. Her note only read 'Dudley, I love you,' and 'Lizzie, I'm sorry,'" he struggled to say as emotion started to rise. Lizzie felt much like she did after Snape's memories, a mixture of bubbling hatred and genuine pity with her mother as the common variable.

"Listen, I'm sorry," he interjected on her wandering thoughts and she broke her gaze to look at him rather intently. Guilt, the same guilt that stole Petunia from the world brewed in his eyes.

"No. Dudley, it's far too difficult to explain but they were not wrong about me. Your father was cruel and heinous but there was a depravity I don't think he was personally capable of in my absence. Your mum might have genuinely treated me as a daughter if I didn't remind her that she failed as a sister. That's not on you. I was not possessed by the devil, but I was possessed by the evil that took my family... and if you felt that presence as I did, as I know they did..." at the word presence his face washed white and she could see years of fear over that wandering soul in that house in his eyes. "Give yourself grace..." she pled. "That possession has made the best people I know do awful things and you could have been much worse without knowing it. It's gone... but I just wanted you to know I don't blame you at all, not for any of that, we were kids, and we were trapped," Lizzie added.

"I blamed you for so long," he said, rubbing his mouth. "At Campbell we didn't see what happened to you all. We didn't know. I thought it was you. I thought it was just you..." he said apologetically.

"How did you meet Janine?" Lizzie asked.

"Church," he said. "Dad was congratulating Landry on Janine's baby. They were talking about her like she wasn't there. They were crude and it stayed with me. Especially after he had Damien for dinner and went on about getting you back, moving you to his property in Ireland and I'll spare you the details. In terms of Jenny, Landry wanted a boy and didn't hide his disappointment, condemned her for not giving birth more easily, from what she explained later, it was really bloody and she thought she was going to die... no sympathy from him even though she was sixteen..."

"I ran into her at the nearest uni campus several months later when I went to take the entrance exams to start applying to schools that year. She was quickly finding out that a Sacred Heart diploma was worth nothing and would have to go back and finish almost three years of high school. I caught her crying with Ivy and got her coffee. She was begging me not to tell my dad or Dennis where she was. I told her to let me know if she needed anything and she went home..." he continued.

"After we went into hiding, I felt guilty that I'd disappeared. Then after mum died I decided to go see if she was doing alright. She wasn't. Apparently the school wasn't the only thing she slipped away to. Once she turned 17 she didn't need guardian approval for medical decisions and got an implanted type of birth control. But Landry got upset when she went so long without getting pregnant again and being a doctor, did the exam himself to see if something was wrong with her... only to find out..." Lizzie held her breath at this, catholics hated birth control.

"He beat her badly. Took it out obviously. Then continued to punish her until she got pregnant. When I went to see her, she was a few shades of fading purple and wasn't allowed to leave the house. But, she was also pregnant and broke down because she wasn't just scared of him, she hadn't told him yet and asked if I could take her to a clinic..." he said with a pang of shame.

"I was sort of in autopilot. I was trying to think of what I would have done if that were you - I couldn't stomach her getting stuck with him just having kids to dig her trap hole deeper with him. I thought she might snap and kill him like you did. So I drove her and on the way back I didn't take her home. Ivy was with us. I told her I was really well protected and that he wouldn't be able to find us and she's been with me since. We can't get married because she's scared to initiate the divorce proceedings and risk custody of Ivy..."

"Dudley..." Lizzie didn't have words. He was sincere and something about losing his family had changed him. "I'm really... proud of you... I always thought you'd be like him."

His face fell and he got a mean look in his eyes at the last comment. The look gave her chills only because he so resembled his father. He shook his head a little reproachfully. "I know I wasn't a Saint, but I really tried not to be like him..." he said finally.

Lizzie nodded. "So what are you doing these days? It's a nice house, small but nice..." she said to steer the conversation.

His face brightened some and he smiled. "Renting it. There was a lot of money in my dad's retirement savings. I work at a publishing company doing nothing fancy, just vetting pitches. Grunt work. I take a couple classes a week at night. I understand now why the Cyprians wanted the boys to finish school before marrying. It's hard. Jenny is trying to sign up for the classes she still needs to finish at least a high school level and get some sort of job... she hates being home all day."

Lizzie nodded. He really seemed well put together. "Listen, Dudley, I know an attorney, the father of a friend of mine who isn't one of my lot - friend is, but his dad isn't I mean - Finch-Fletchly, he might be able to help with the divorce and custody situation. He's been keeping tabs on the church for awhile and I gave him some info years back. He'll know who I am - they all do," Lizzie offered. Dudley smiled and he looked like a stupid teenager for a moment.

"Also, there's a man out here named Christopher Lupton, owns some properties, he was..." she started to say.

"Luptons son? The one that ran away?" Dudley asked. Lizzie nodded.

"Yeah, he's been trying to buy up properties owned by Cyprians and if you wanted to be more active in doing something about them, I'm sure he could use the help, I'd help too," Lizzie said. "I also inherited a home here in London which is easily hidden. If any of these wives needed a place to bolt to, I could set them up there, just give me some time to get things arranged. My - boyfriends - dad works in muggle relations at our ministry and after everything that happened with the war, I think they could do me the favor of using - magical - means of protecting them as well...they're not hostile to any of you, I promise," she continued.

"Your boyfriend?" He asked with a slight smirk. "You've yet to tell me why you're here."

"It's complicated... I left the morning after the war ended to get some air... and haven't gone back. They don't know where I am. I'm apprehensive about it. I was staying elsewhere until I found out I was pregnant and left before that news could travel..." she explained cryptically.

When she left Hogwarts with Kreacher, they apparated to the cave where Regulus died and retrieved his body to bury in the Black Family crypt, along with the broken cup that was all that remained of Estrella. She put together a memorial for Sirius, buried the mirror shard with her dad. She escavated Petunia's casket and laid it to rest near her parents, not her husband. She laid enchanted lilies on the graves of those lost in the war. Then she stayed with Amos briefly until she started getting ill and knew in her bones she was carrying. She used the stone often there to talk to Cedric and he pled with her to go back Charlie.

"You're pregnant?" He asked, his eyebrows raised over saucer eyes. "Your boyfriend's?" He asked.

"Yeah, I um. Yeah," she said, not because she didn't think it was Charlie's but because she wasn't sure if it was also someone else's.

"Why are you running then? Did he hurt you?" Dudley asked.

"Um... no... he... well he didnt," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. That wasn't a lie. Charlie wasn't behind those eyes.

"I'm going to go back, but I just can't yet. I was wondering if I could have maybe some money? I don't have muggle money, was going to stay up in a lodging somewhere..." she asked.

"No, just stay here, there's an extra room and I'm not going to charge you anything. Jenny would love company," he offered. He watched her eyes grow a little small.

"I understand if you don't want to. I can get you a bank note instead but I just think it'd be better given your condition if you stayed with... you know... family..." he said awkwardly.

"We're family?" Lizzie asked with a rasp. He nodded faintly.

"Well no, not really... I suppose. But you're the closest thing I had to a sister, and I was a horrible brother in that regard. But you saved my life anyway. You did more for me than I ever did for you. So if you want to stay, I owe you that..." he said.

Lizzie felt tears under her eyes and nodded. "I can help with Ivy. Janine can take her classes. I don't want to be a burden, thank you," she said. He nodded and seemed happy.

"You're not a burden. But thank you she'd really love that," he said. "I should get to work, Lizzie. They probably haven't noticed I'm even gone, but you know..." he said. Lizzie smiled politely and watched him leave. The whiplash was disorienting. It was the last thing and the best thing she ever expected from her cousin.


She wandered into the kitchen and talked to Janine for hours. She caught up on what happened after Melody's suicide and Father Matthew's death. Lizzie always thought Janine was an untouchable based on the family she came from; they had never been friends. She explained that nobody died after Lizzie left, and that the new chaplain only whipped the girls, he didn't molest them. She clarified that he was no Saint since he often carried out canings with an audience and was a huge advocate for humiliating them into compliance. Lizzie asked what happened to priority status in getting married and she told her she blew it with a boy she met who wasn't even remotely worth it.

It was painfully obvious she saw her husband when she looked at her daughter, but there was so much love, nonetheless. This was deciding factor for Lizzie, who knew she'd see Charlie in hers, and decided that if the pregnancy killed her, to which she had an innate fear it would, that she would either board the train with her family, and if not, she would have one. If Dudley could, anyone surely could.

She stayed through November. Ivy grew attached and Janine had so much more energy making progress on finishing school. Yet, Dudley often spooked Lizzie and she tried to shake the resemblance and ignore the mannerisms that reminded her of her uncle. He caught on and seemed to keep a distance.

Lizzie was lying on the sofa while Ivy played with her animal toy set on the floor one afternoon while Janine was at school. Her stomach was swollen into a noticeable bump, and she'd recently started to feel her child moving. Dudley insisted weeks prior she go in for a checkup and she did, leaving with a photo that made her wonder what species she was carrying since she couldn't for the life of her make out the outline of a baby, no matter what the nurse said. The doctor made a number of comments though, about her high blood pressure, her fast heart rate, her weight being low because she had a hard time keeping anything down, and how much scar tissue she had in her reproductive system, warning that might cause some issues in birth. Lizzie didn't want to think about that, she knew her body looked like notch board from permanent scars, she just didn't like questions asked.

Ivy liked to touch her belly, and Lizzie let her. This time she was taking a plastic lion and running him across like it was a hillside. Lizzie started to doze off not minding the boundary intrusion when she felt something slide over her abdomen and swore something slid under the surface. Ivy had a toy snake about a foot long and made hissing noises as she rolled it over the top of Lizzie's stomach. Lizzie jumped and snatched Ivy's hand far too hard.

"Drop that!" She snapped harshly and felt immediate guilt well the little girl's eyes welled. "No, honey. I'm so sorry," Lizzie said hurriedly. She kissed the girls hand over and over and gave her a hug, but it didn't stop her from crying. Lizzie retreated to the kitchen to get her something to cheer her up but soon found her body trembling in fear. She splashed her face with water and tried to ignore the phantom pain of the curse she was once under. Her heart was racing again, her blood pressure surely too high.


It was nearing the end of November when Ivy ran into Lizzie's room one night and hid under the covers because a fight had broken out between Dudley and Janine. Lizzie held her while she listened.

"I'm not doing it again!" Janine yelled, sobbing.

"Look around, Janine! Give me ONE reason you bloody can't! ONE good reason!" Dudley yelled back. She was crying and Dudley was pacing.

"After all of this, I can't believe you'd want to... one was bad enough, that was understandable, this isn't. This is selfish!" An angry and frustrated growl punctuating the last word.

"What makes it any different!?" Janine yelled back and he stormed out of the room. She slammed the door behind him. Lizzie put a small drop of sleeping draft on Ivy's tongue and let her drift off before making her way downstairs.

Dudley was drinking brandy in the kitchen and the smell made Lizzie want to vomit. He put it away when he saw her. His eyes were red and swollen. "What happened?" Lizzie asked. "Ivy is scared." This made him wince in some pain and look ashamed.

"Jenny's pregnant," he said with a weak voice. Lizzie raised her eyebrows and waited for more.

"She doesn't want it," he said, and Lizzie sat down at the counter.

"I'm sorry, I know that's hard to hear," she said.

"I'm not taking her, she's not killing my kid," he said firmly. Lizzie stared at him with some trepidation.

"You took her before..." Lizzie said.

"That was different. That was Dennis's. Did she tell you how often he raped her? How badly he beat her? I -" he said defensively. "He didn't need more of a claim to her. I would have never helped her sin like that if it wasn't NECESSARY. We still need to atone for it!" He hissed.

"Atone for what? He abused HER. SHE doesn't have anything to be sorry about. Neither do you, that was the right thing," Lizzie argued.

"The right thing would have been for her have it. You know that, for God's sake, do you hear yourself? I know they were awful to you, but we're still CATHOLIC. I helped her out because it was out of that situation... that's different..." he retorted.

"Why would her having it have been the right thing to do, Dudley? Why is she obligated to sacrifice herself for something HE did?" Lizzie snapped.

"He raped her, but God got her pregnant, that's His will!" He said, pointing to the ceiling. "I flouted that because it was impossible. If I didn't think it would be FORGIVABLE," he added.

"No, you helped her because YOU didn't want her to have HIS child, not because SHE didn't. This isn't about Janine. This was always about you. Now she's pregnant with yours and you won't respect her wishes because it's still about YOU. Pathological... fucking all of you are. After all of this you still think she belongs to you. She doesn't. She doesn't owe you anything! She's not even your wife!" Lizzie snapped.

"Yes, she bloody does! I got her out. I'm raising her daughter," he growled.

"Nobody forced you to do that! That's noble, but nobody made you. Now you're going to make her bear yours? How does that make you any better than her husband?" Lizzie hissed back.

"I've never hurt her! Or Ivy! I wouldn't dream of it!" He yelled.

"Yet you hang your belt on the wall in the same place your dad did!" Lizzie shot back. He looked confused.

"It's by my bag and coat when I leave, it's not a threat!" He stammered.

"My point exactly! You don't see any of those things the way we do! You were coddled, Dudley! The belt on the wall is always a threat. Ask Janine, ask any of us. I would have to fetch it if he wasn't already wearing it, knowing it might crack my tailbone with how hard he hit. It hung to remind me not cross him. So put it somewhere else. Look at this from her eyes. She doesn't trust you. She knows who your father was. You're going to have to continuously prove to her you are nothing like who she's married to. And I'm sorry if that's hard! That's what your church did to us. Why do you think I'm not back in the arms of the father of my child by now? I don't trust ANYONE. I'm scared of ALL of them! So go upstairs and tell her you support her no matter what. You owe her that unless you're planning to be another Cyprian husband. It won't matter if your hands are gentle if your intentions are obviously the same."

Dudley was glaring at her, and it gave her chills. He stood up and she realized how tall he was for the first time. "Go back, Lizzie. I'm not kicking you out. But I think you should go back to the FATHER of your child, since us fathers obviously bear no value to you."

"Don't you dare, you're a great father to Ivy, that's not what I'm getting at. This just isn't your decision," she snapped. "Please don't back her into a wall," Lizzie said with tears in her eyes. "No mother wants to feel that way. You want her to resent your baby? You want her to want to run from you too? Be there for her, prove her wrong, she's desperately hoping she's wrong, I promise you that...she will keep your baby if you're supportive and you prove her wrong. But if she doesn't want this, and if you don't bloody take her, I will."

Dudley wiped pooling eyes with the back of his hand and left the room. Lizzie decided to leave but didn't have the courage to go back to anyone.


"Potter... Jesus," Aberforth hastily checked the baby first for signs of life, but she was snoozing peacefully. He touched Lizzie's sweaty forehead and flinched at how hot her skin was.

The sheets covering her were bloody and he pulled them back apprehensively to see a thin shirt soaked through with a large cut across her abdomen that had been somewhat mended. His heart panged with guilt that he wasn't back sooner, but she had claimed when she arrived a month ago that she didn't expect to have the baby until almost March, and it was New Year's Eve. She had a pulse, and he scooped up the baby from her arms, making a bassinet from a nearby basket and set of clean blankets. From his stores he brought several things back and got her into clean clothes and linens for the bed. When her fever finally broke, he let her continue to sleep until she stirred. He gave the baby something weak in strength to do the same without harming her considering her mother's arms were much too limp to hold or feed her.

Her pulse started to pick up to a normal pace and her skin became clammy as the fever came down. Aberforth thought she might have been trying to talk to someone, but she was lost in replay of the pain that broke her water and sent her crashing to the floor of the small spare room. Lizzie climbed up into the bed with great effort trying to steady breathing that cinched with every stab-like contraction. Contractions were supposed to be dull according to Janine, Lizzie felt like her body was contracting around something sharp. She laid in the bed and tried to count between each surge of pain. She'd pulled her knickers off and rode out the waves of intensity, biting down on blankets to stifle screams. She started bleeding profusely and embraced the dissociation the blood loss brought.

"Lizzie, honey you need to breathe. You cannot panic..."

"It's too early... it's going to die," Lizzie breathed desperately.

"It's not over, you're not going to lose this," Lily said reassuringly. Lizzie had the stone tight in her hand and in this moment decided the only person she needed was her mother.

"Nothing hurts as much as this; I'd rather take a cruciatus..." she pled. It had been several hours when the bleeding rushed rapidly, and her eyes felt suddenly heavy.

"No, no, no, you need to stay awake. I can't actually help you, Lizzie, honey," her mother pled desperately.

"I can't... push... I can't..." her airways felt blocked, she could barely get air through her lungs and felt the urge to vomit but didn't have a shred of energy for that either.

"This is not how you're dying...Lizzie!" Her mother shrieked.

Lizzie's lips trembled violently. "I'll just be with you, that's not so bad," she said with a weak voice.

"No, you deserve to feel what it's like to love someone as much as you'll love this baby," Lily said.

Lizzie shook her head, "I knew it was doomed," She reasoned with a breathy whisper. She looked at her mother's swimming eyes and then reached into a drawer to pull a blade.

"Lizzie, no sweetheart, don't -" Lily said in horror.

"Aberforth will find the baby and he'll know to take it to Charlie. They'll have a family, they won't need me like I needed you," Lizzie cried.

"Then I can always be with them, it will protect it, won't it?" Lizzie asked. Lily cried and wished she could stop her daughter's hand. It didn't feel like long ago she was Lizzie's age in a similar but less dire situation. James was there. It hurt worse than anything imaginable, but Lizzie was dying and as much as she wanted her daughter in her arms, she wanted nothing more than Lizzie to hold a child of her own.

Lizzie didn't want her mother to see her die and dropped the stone before taking the blade to the underside of her swollen abdomen which was a huge risk. The adrenaline was only enough to pull her child free of her body and take the elder wand in a trembling hand to shakily mend the incision. She screamed in absolutely agony but the pressure in her head and chest made her feel underwater. She crudely bundled the blanket and tried to look at the baby even though she could scarcely raise her head with blind vision. Lizzie held her close wishing she could smother her in love but couldn't even manage a sob before losing consciousness.


When she woke, her daughter was on her chest, the blood was gone, she'd been mended, and despite feeling astonishingly weak, her daughter was feeding. Lizzie looked around and the door opened slightly. Poppy entered in a hurry and checked her forehead for her temperature.

"You are the bane of my existence, Lizzie," she hissed, but smiled wide at the baby who came up for air. Lizzie looked down at her daughter and took her in, pressing her face to her tiny one and feeling like she'd always known the words to this song of a mother's love, but had never quite heard it rhyme until now.

"She's beautiful. I'm going to bet anything on a Weasley boy," Poppy said. Lizzie almost laughed. "This is why you ran?" She asked.

"I can't explain it, please does anyone know? I don't want them to know yet," Lizzie asked.

"Not even Minerva, and she will grind me into kitty litter if she finds out," Poppy said. Lizzie laughed at that but stopped because Poppy wasn't amused.

"Sweetheart, I'll let you return on your own accord, you should have this time with your baby, but I promise I will drop the news if you wait too long, do you understand me?" She asked. Lizzie nodded.

"This needs to be the last time you almost die, for the love God he was right about you being a cockroach," she added. Lizzie smirked. Lizzie held her daughter close and let their hearts beat in sync.