Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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When Severus woke to find himself alone in bed an hour later, his black eyes widened.
"Lily…...?" Severus called out urgently as he sat up, "Lily?!"
"I'm right here, Sev!" Lily called from the bathroom.
Severus stumbled out of bed and nearly tripped over his own feet as he charged towards the bathroom.
Severus's black hair hung in a disheveled mess around his face as he hastily opened the door.
"Good morning." Lily greeted Severus, turning to look at him while she finished brushing her teeth.
"Good morning." Severus replied, still breathing hard from his shock, "Lily, you frightened me! It's not like you to be up so early…..are you feeling alright?"
Severus's voice was tense and that made Lily giggle.
Oh dear…...
Silently, she prepared herself for the impact as she announced, "I think my water broke earlier, but I feel fine, don't worry!"
"Your…….WHAT?!?!" Severus gasped.
"My water broke, that's what woke me up." Lily replied calmly, "At least, I think that's what happened….. I cleaned up and changed my gown, then I went downstairs for a while."
"Why didn't you tell me immediately?!" Severus hissed.
"You haven't been sleeping well, Sev." Lily shrugged nonchalantly, "And I'm not having any pain yet."
"You're…..not?" Severus asked, narrowing his eyebrows.
"Not a bit." Lily replied casually as she brushed her hair.
"That's irrelevant." Severus said quickly, "We need to go to the hospital straight away."
"You've got to get dressed first." Lily remarked, eyeing Severus as he stood in his nightshirt.
While Severus had been sleeping, Lily had shed her nightgown and put on her most comfortable maternity dress so she was already prepared to leave.
Severus, though…….
Lily sat on the bed and laughed as she watched him whirl furiously around the room at an incredible speed while he raced to get his robes and shoes on.
Severus Snape had never been one to spend long periods of time primping and preening himself for the day, but Lily had to admit…….that was a new record, even for him.
Once Severus was ready, he grabbed Lily's hospital bag, and offered her his arm.
As Severus took out his wand, Lily and Severus started their journey to meet their baby.
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Severus had wanted to carry Lily, but she insisted on standing beside him when they arrived, moments later, directly in the maternity ward of St. Mungo's.
Severus's face was twisted in anguish as he rushed up to the counter, hurrying Lily along.
"Please help us immediately." Severus commanded the nurse working at the desk as he gestured to Lily, "Her water broke! She needs a room right away!"
The nurse at the desk glanced over at Lily who smiled back sweetly.
From the swell of her belly, Lily certainly looked ready to have a baby, but the nurse thought she seemed awfully calm and composed about the situation.
The nurse did not believe the matter was as urgent as Severus claimed.
"Someone will be with you in a moment, sir." The nurse at the desk nodded.
Severus scowled at the nurse, as if to tell her that wasn't a good enough response for his liking, but he turned his attention back to Lily.
The waiting room was surprisingly empty as Severus tried to wrangle Lily into a chair.
"Sev, I'm fine, really, I'd prefer to stand." Lily protested.
"You shouldn't be standing right now!" Severus snapped, "You should be lying on a bed in a hospital room! Where is that blasted-"
Just before Severus had succeeded in maneuvering Lily into a seat, several nurses burst forth from the doors of the ward with a gurney and called out, "Lily Evans."
"That's me!" Lily beamed happily.
Just as jovial as ever, Lily walked over and laid down calmly on the gurney.
Lily lay still as Severus rushed along beside the nurses while they wheeled her down the hallway.
Or, at least, he tried.
"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to wait here." One nurse said, holding a hand up to Severus, signalling for him not to follow past a certain point.
Lily tensed when she heard that and Severus looked like he was going to explode.
"I have to go back there with her!" Severus demanded, "I know all of the breathing exercises! I've been to all of the classes! I'm her partner! You can't just leave her alone back there!"
"Oh, no, we're just going to get her settled." The nurse smiled, patient and used to overzealous fathers-to-be, "We'll call you back as soon as we have her in a room."
Lily still looked a little apprehensive and as the nurses pulled her away, she reached out in vain to Severus, crying, "Sev!"
Severus looked desperate as he reached back in response, but before he could shout anything, the doors closed and Lily disappeared behind them.
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Fifteen irritating, nerve-grinding minutes later, Severus was finally allowed to join Lily in her newly assigned room.
Severus watched as one nurse let Lily sip a tonic designed to move things along and then, to Severus's shock, the nurse turned to leave.
"Is someone not going to stay in here with us?" Severus scoffed at the nurse.
"Not all the time, no." The nurse replied, "It could take hours once the contractions start, we have other patients, sir. We'll make our rounds periodically and check her…..She knows where the call lever is."
"Thank you." Lily said, nodding politely at the nurse.
Severus gave Lily a terse smile, feeling that her kindness was not warranted in the situation, but Lily just finished her tonic and relaxed against the pillows.
"Feel anything?" Severus asked, looking at Lily worriedly as he idly stroked her red hair.
"No." Lily shrugged, "Not yet."
Severus marveled at how tranquil Lily seemed.
He was utterly perplexed by the happy smile she wore.
Severus had watched all of the birthing videos in the muggle classes and he had viewed all of the pictures in Lily's books to give himself a baseline education on what was going to happen and how he could best help Lily in those dangerous, intense moments……...
Knowing those dangerous, intense moments were about to happen, Severus wondered…..what on earth was Lily so happy about?
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An hour passed.
Lily kept her smile, but nothing changed.
Severus chatted with her to keep her occupied, holding her hand while she laid in bed, but after another uneventful hour dwindled away, Lily's happy smile faded as the attending physician examined her.
Severus was not pleased to see the same irritable doctor that he and Lily had met at her last appointment.
"Still nothing?" The doctor asked Lily gruffly.
Severus watched Lily flinch as the man inserted his instruments inside of her a little too roughly and he resisted the urge to smack the physician.
"No, nothing yet." Lily replied in a disappointed voice, "Should I try another tonic?"
The doctor shook his head.
"Well, may I try walking around a bit?" Lily asked with a frown, "I read in my book that-"
"No, that's not appropriate. You're a fall risk and should you injure yourself, we could be sued. Like I said before, young mothers always read a couple of silly books and think they know everything." The doctor snapped at Lily hatefully.
"I was just asking….." Lily began quietly.
"-There's no need to be rude to her." Severus snapped, in a tone as hateful as the doctor's.
Severus was trying to let Lily's medical attendants do their jobs, but he would not tolerate watching her be mistreated.
"A stubborn baby is a stubborn baby." The doctor shrugged, "Looks like you're headed straight for a caesarean section, Miss Evans. I'll go ahead and draw up the discharge paperwork for you."
Severus narrowed his eyes, "Discharge paperwork? You're going to send her home after you just said she needs a different treatment?"
"No." The doctor snapped at Severus, his eyes cutting over to look at the defiant man in front of him, "I said she will most likely need a caesarean section. This is a magical hospital, sir. There's nothing magical about surgery. For that, we send patients to the muggle hospitals, they're better experts about the subject than we are."
Severus grit his teeth at the doctor while tears gathered in Lily's eyes that she tried to hide, "Alright……so that's it, then?" She nodded in solemn acceptance.
"That's it, then." The doctor said with a bored sigh as he turned to leave, "Go to the muggles, let them diagnose 'failure to progress' and get on with it."
The doctor's callous words hit Lily like a brick.
Failure.
Lily's body had already failed her and now it was doing it again, cheating her out of the more natural experience she had been so looking forward to.
Lily was not interested in a caesarean section.
Lily started to weep pitifully, frustrated and saddened for reasons that Severus didn't really understand.
As he waited to help her back into her clothes, Severus crawled into Lily's hospital bed with her and kissed her forehead sweetly, holding her close while she cried.
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Severus and Lily quickly departed St. Mungo's and using her parent's old car that she and Petunia had kept, Severus drove Lily to the nearest muggle hospital, following the magical doctor's recommendation.
Severus was flabbergasted and Lily was even more upset when she was triaged, examined, and promptly sent home without even being shown to a room.
"Can you not induce me?!" Lily cried to the muggle doctor.
"If we have to, but with your history of high blood pressure, let's try to do watchful waiting first. A c-section may be the best option if that doesn't work out." The doctor shrugged, talking about Lily's situation with as much ease as if he were discussing what to do about a flat tire on a car.
Lily was wordless as they left the hospital and Severus kept glancing at her in concern.
Lily didn't look happy anymore, but she had stopped crying and she no longer seemed sad.
Severus wasn't used to seeing it on Lily's face…..anger.
It made Severus uncomfortable.
Lily's frown was genuine.
After being turned out of two hospitals, nearly a week overdue, with her water broken and two doctors refusing to help her, Lily was angry that they had just resigned her to sit and wait for her turn on the operating table.
Lily was angry at her body.
How could this happen?
Even Severus had to admit, he had thought the day would be emotional and hectic, but so far, it had been……..rather dull, really.
As soon as they made it back to the house, Lily stomped in the door, scooped up every pamphlet and every book lying around on labor and delivery and threw them all in the rubbish bin.
"Lily……" Severus began but Lily cut him off.
"-Don't, Sev! Don't! Those were nothing more than a waste of time!" Lily cried angrily, sniffing irritatedly as hot tears sprang inexplicably to her eyes once more, "The classes….the practicing…...It was just a big waste of time!"
Severus was left standing in the middle room as Lily traipsed up the stairs and he frowned to himself.
Severus let a couple of moments pass and then he quietly glided along, following in Lily's footsteps, as he peered in each room until he spied her lying on their bed.
Wordlessly, Severus walked over and sat on the bed beside Lily, flickering his gaze down towards her, knowing she couldn't see him from where she lay on her side.
"I thought Gryfinndors never gave up." Severus began.
Lily didn't say anything, but Severus saw her turn her head slightly towards him as she listened.
"...I thought Gryfinndors fought bravely until the end." Severus went on.
"What are you saying?" Lily asked sadly.
"I'm saying that all's not lost yet, Lily. The muggle doctor said 'watchful waiting'. There's still things you and I can try……….Don't resign yourself so quickly to defeat, that's not like you. Where has your tenacity gone?" Severus asked.
"I suppose the same place my waistline has." Lily huffed.
Severus gave Lily a look so reprimanding that Lily could feel his eyes boring into her.
Turning so her gaze met Severus's, the intent stare that he was giving her seemed to refresh Lily and she pulled herself up, "Alright, then, Sev, let's do it." Lily nodded, "I'm ready."
Severus took Lily's hand and raised it to his lips to give it a kiss.
"Come on then, let me help you up." Severus said, gently pulling Lily to her feet.
"Where are we going?" Lily asked with a wry smile.
Severus's black eyes glinted as he thought, "Let's try a walk first."
Lily nodded and held onto Severus's arms while he carefully led her out of their bedroom and downstairs.
Severus had been Lily's first magical teacher. Severus had helped Lily in countless ways during their years as classmates. Whenever Lily struggled, he was there.
Severus had helped Lily conceive this child and he was determined to help her birth it too…….