Chapter 3

"Good morning Carla," Scorpius said brightly, as he walked into the Auror office carrying two steaming cups of coffee.

Carla raised an eyebrow to him. "You're in a good mood this morning," she said, taking the cup coffee that Scorpius was holding out to her.

"Yes I am." He sat his own cup down on his desk and grinned.

Carla smirked, craning her neck to look over Scorpius shoulder. "So I'm assuming this means that you talked to Rose?"

Scorpius' is grin widened. "She called last night," He said, taking a seat and reaching into his desk for a thick file folder.

"Told you she'd come around," Carla commented, swiveling her chair from side to side as she sipped on her coffee and stared at something behind Scorpius "So is she coming home?"

Scorpius stopped flipping through the folder. "Not exactly." He looked up to his partner. "But the fact that she called…I'm taking as an achievement." He reached for his quill. "No one knows how to hold a grudge like Rose does."

"Point well made," said Carla, using her heels to scoot her chair closer into her desk, but keeping her eyes focused on something past Scorpius.

Scorpius smirked and looked around the room. "What do you keep staring at?"

"Cornell's office." Carla pulled her eyes from the door to Scorpius. "Matt's new partner is in there, and Rose wanted me to give her information."

The expression on Scorpius' face went crooked. "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Carla answered bluntly, crossing her arms.

His eyes widened in confusion. "Because…" he pushed, reaching for his cup.

Carla sighed. "She's afraid that she is going to get mommy tacked."

Hot coffee spewed from his lips as he choked on his drink. Reaching for a napkin, he wiped a stain off his tie. "What is that?" he asked.

"Scorpius how many women in this office have kids?" Carla asked, waving her hand around the floor.

Scorpius pursed his lips, and examined the room. In general there weren't many women in the office, and he didn't know any of them well enough to be able to know if they had kids or not. "Five?" he guessed.

"Two," Carla corrected. "And neither of them is on field duty."

"Oh." Scorpius leaned back in his chair, finally understanding. "You don't think that Cornell would take Rose of field duty after she has the baby do you?"

Carla shook her head. "I'm not saying that, but I know that when Rose first moved here she was replacing a mother that was on maternity leave."

Scorpius looked over his shoulder to stare at Cornell's office. "He can't just take her off field duty without a reason."

"I'm not saying that he takes women off field duty for having kids." Carla argued. "I'm saying that most women request to be taken off, or they quit."

"Rose loves her job, she'd never quit." Scorpius countered.

"That's what the woman who Rose replaced said too. Rose is convinced that Cornell will be scoping Matt's new partner out to replace her." Carla crossed her arms. "And she has reason to be worried. I think Cornell is full prepared for the possibility that when Rose comes back her first priority isn't going to be work. There is a reason to believe that she may not be as good at her job when she comes back."

Scorpius' mouth was a gap. It wasn't that he had never considered the possibility that things were going to change after the baby was born, but he hadn't really thought about how they would change. He was more concerned about getting Rose back in the same country as him. "Do you think Rose needs to be worried about this?"

Cornell's office opened and a short girl with long brown hair emerged. She was young, maybe nineteen or twenty, and looked as though she had just arrived from the Auror training department. Although she was small, the pointed expression her face gave Scorpius the impression that she could hold her own in a fight.

When Cornell walked out behind her she gave a doting smile to him, which Cornell returned in the same manner. "Everybody," Cornell's voice boomed. The office went quiet as everyone's attention went onto Cornell and the girl. "This is my niece Mindy Collins Cornell, she will be taking over for Rose while she is away."

Scorpius looked back to Carla's surprised expression. "Yes, I do think Rose needs to be extremely worried."

As she walked out of the office, she gave a sideways glance to Matt who was pointing her to the direction of Rose's desk.

"Mum are you seriously going to walk me all the way to the maternity department?" Rose asked to a fussy Hermione.

"Well if you had followed the schedule I made you yesterday I wouldn't have to do this," Hermione stated turning down a hallway that led to the maternity wing of St. Mungos.

"I forgot," Rose said sheepishly. "I've been doing that lately."

"I know, it's called being pregnant, which is why it is so important to schedule an appointment." Hermione yanked on a door, holding it open for Rose.

The room was unlike any of the other wings in the hospital. It was painted sky blue and in the corner was a play set with two screaming children tugging on the same doll. On the walls were moving paintings of tubby bears with a handful of balloons, and princesses dancing in circles. And there was music, happy children's sing alongs playing over an intercom.

"This room is awful," Rose mumbled to her mother.

Hermione gave a wide grin. "Go make your appointment dear."

Sighing, Rose dragged her feet over to a desk at the front of the room.

"Dear Merlin," Rose slipped out at the sight of the woman behind the desk. She was middle aged but had her hair in high pigtails, and was wearing an awful shade of bright pink.

"Good afternoon," a woman said in a voice that was way too happy for Rose's taste.

"Hi," Rose said, unable closing her eyes as she tried to block out the sound of children's voices. "I need to make an appointment."

"You going to be a new mummy, how exciting," she announced, pulling out a clipboard. "Have you had an appointment yet?"

Rose shook her head. "Nope." The sound of the screaming girls was becoming louder. "First one," she said turning to look at the girls who were fighting, and a new little boy who had a wooden block in his mouth. "Is it safe for him to be eating on that?"

The woman looked over the desk and made goo goo eyes to the toddler. "I'm sure it is, but if not it's a good thing we are in a hospital."

Rose shuddered as she turned back to the woman. "So I need an appointment," she said bringing the woman back on track.

"Oh goody." The woman looked at her clipboard. "What's your name, and about how far along do you think you are?"

"Rose Malfoy," Rose coughed. "Three months I think."

The woman looked up from her clipboard. "Oh, you weren't trying to get pregnant were you?"

"How—No." Rose pushed a smile onto her face. "No we weren't. Not even close."

The receptionist didn't catch the annoyance in Rose's voice. "It's always a happy surprise when you find out you're expecting isn't it?"

Rose tapped her finger on the desk. "Well I can get you in today if you like, I just had a cancelation."

There was a tugging on the bottom of her jeans. "Umm," she looked down to see another baby boy at her feet. Rose's head shot up her stare at her mother with panicked eyes. "Let go," she mouthed, shaking her leg from the baby's grasp, but the baby only wrapped both his arms around her. "Help me."

Hermione walked over to rose, giggling to herself, and scooped up the baby. "Well aren't you cute," she said making a face that made the baby laugh.

"So would you like the appointment?" The woman asked.

Rose turned back to the patiently waiting woman. "Umm, actually I rather wait for my husband to be available."

A sweet expression crossed the woman's face. "How about June 12th at six?"

Rose had to think about what time that would be for Scorpius in New York. Pushing her hair out of her face Rose took a hectic breath. "That works."

Once the receptionist penciled her in Rose turned around to see her mother sitting in the floor with all four of the children. The two girls had stopped fighting to play with Hermione's bushy hair, the boy with the block was holding on out for her to take, and the baby was sitting in her lap and blowing bubbles with its saliva.

"I have an appointment. You happy?" Rose asked from across the room.

Hermione met her daughter's eyes. "Thank you dear."

Rose, who was getting a headache from the music, suddenly felt exhausted and overwhelmed. "Can we leave now?"

Hermione put the baby to the side and stood up. "Yeah."

As they walked back to Ron's room Hermione asked, "Are you alright."

Rose closed her eyes. "Did I just treat a baby like a dog?"

"Oh dear," Hermione comfortingly. "It's okay, you won't do that to your child."

Rose laughed. "I don't know how I'm going to do this mum. Babies are just so…needy."

Hermione looped her arm over Rose's shoulder. "You'll adjust to it."

Rose leaned her head back. "I don't know how."

Hermione gave Rose's shoulders a squeeze to get her attention. "Rose you know what might make you feel better?"

"What?" Rose groaned.

"Going home for a couple of days," Hermione suggested.

Rose shook her head defiantly "I can't go home for a couple of days mum. You have way to much going on."

Hermione chewed on her lip, not disputing the fact. "Alright then going home for a few hours."

Rose scrunched her eyebrows together. "Are you trying to get rid of me, because I'm not sure how seeing Scorpius for a few hours going to help anything."

Hermione began to brush her fingers through Rose's hair. "Dear, I just don't want you to feel like you're giving up what should be a happy time in your life for us."

"I'm not giving anything up mum," Rose tried to protest.

Hermione waved her hand. "Rose go see Scorpius, I'm sure you miss him."

Rose scratched her temple and bit her lip. "Mum…" They'd stopped outside her father's door.

"Rose go." Hermione ordered. "A few hours away isn't going to hurt."

Rose sighed. "Fine, I'll go see my husband," she said sarcastically, which took Hermione off guard.

When Scorpius walked in his apartment that evening, he immediately noticed that something was off. His kitchen counters, which he'd left a cereal box and half eaten toast on that morning, were scrubbed. A mop was charmed to mop the floors and he also heard the washing machine on in the laundry room. For a moment he couldn't tell if he'd been burgled, or if he'd hired a house elf.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," he heard someone mumble from the bedroom.

Instinctively, Scorpius grabbed his wand, gripped it tightly in his hand, and began to follow the sound of the voice. Using his wands tip to push open the door he saw that his bed—now made—was covered with piles of his t-shirts, and more were being levitated from the closet.

"Seriously," Rose's voice half yelled from the closet. "I'm gone for two weeks and you just let everything pile up."

"Rose?" Scorpius said, quickly putting his wand on the nightstand and looking into the closet.

Rose tripped over her shoes as she spun around to see Scorpius in the closet doorway. Holding out her hand to catch herself on the wall, she looked up to him. "Hi," she said calmly.

Scorpius tilted his head and continued to stare at Rose. "What are you doing?"

She lowered her eyes away from him, and fiddled with edges of the folded duffle bag that she was holding. "I just wanted to pick up some things," she said, and walked passed him.

Still in shock, Scorpius turned around and watched as she started to walk around the room, placing items in the bag. For the past two weeks all he had wanted was to see her, but now that she was here he didn't know what to say. Keeping his eyes on her, to make sure that this wasn't a hallucination, he walked over to the other side of the bed.

Rose reached for the stack of his t-shirts on the bed and put them in the bag. "Whose bag are you packing? Yours or mine?" Scorpius asked eyeing the bag suspiciously.

Rose looked up to him. "They're comfier to sleep in," she answered simply, zipping the bag.

Scorpius couldn't help but grin. "So you do miss me," he commented in a cocky way.

Rose lifted the bag off the bed. "I made an appointment," she announced, in attempt to change the subject.

"You did?" he asked, walking around the bed so that he was only about a foot away from her.

Rose nodded, gazing down to the floor. "Yeah," she cleared her throat, "it's next Thursday at six. I tried to get one as late as possible, but if I need to move it—"

"No, that's perfect," Scorpius took another step closer, which made Rose close her eyes. "We're going to get to see how little person is doing," he said in a gruffly.

Rose could feel his breath hitting the side of her neck. "You're—" She popped her head up, accidentally knocking him in the nose.

"Bloody hell," Scorpius muttered as he turned his head to the side and covered his nose.

"I'm sorry." Rose raised her hand up to his face, tilting him towards her. "Will you let me see it?" she asked, rubbing her thumb against his wrist.

Scorpius stared at her for a moment before lowering his hand from his nose. Rose cringed. His nose was turning purple and dripping with blood. "Sit down," she ordered, rushing to the kitchen and returning with a wet wash cloth wrapped in ice.

Kneeling in front of him, she tipped his head forward and pushed the ice to his nose. He winced and opened his eyes, but calmed as he felt Rose tenderly press her hand against his neck.

She didn't even notice that he was looking at her—her focus was solely on injury. "Is it broken?" he asked.

Rose removed the bag to examine it closer. Gently, she ran her fingers around his nose, moving closer to it little by little, but when she actually touched his nose he flinched. "Afraid so," she said, reaching into her pocket for her wand. "Close your eyes."

Crack, his nose snapped back into place and the swelling began to subside. "It's fixed," she whispered.

Scorpius opened his eyes to see Rose smiling at him. One hand still skimming his face, while the other wiped away the blood. He leaned forward, his forehead barely touching hers. "What were you going to say before?" he asked.

Rose pushed the ice back onto the tender area of his nose. She cleared her throat. "Just that you're excited aren't you?"

Scorpius smirked. "I am." He nodded his head softly. "I know that we're going through some weird stuff right now, but how can I not be excited." Rose frowned and lowered her eyes. "You're not excited though," Scorpius inferred.

Rose sighed. "I don't know what I am." She continued to move the cloth over his nose. "I've never wanted children Scorpius, and I'm not sure how to react now that I'm having one. I keep reading all these books that say that I should already feel connected to this child, but I don't." Rose kept her eyes focused on what her hands were doing. "I guess lately, I've been questioning if there's a motherly bone in my body."

"Hey," said Scorpius, grabbing her wrist so that she would look him in the eyes. "You're going to be a great mum Rose," he said with a reassuring nod. "I mean look how quickly you rushed to help me." He cupped her cheek. "Just because you don't feel anything now doesn't mean that you won't."

Rose stared at him long enough that she lowered her hand. "I think you're better," she said, standing up. "And I think I should get going." She handed Scorpius the ice.

"Rose," Scorpius said as she was picking up her bag.

"Yeah," She faced Scorpius as though she had not been revealing her insecurities.

Scorpius took a deep breath. "I want to tell my parents that we're pregnant."

Rose slung the bag onto her shoulder. "Okay, tell them," she said indifferently.

He shook his head and stared up to her. "I want to tell them together. I them to be able to be excited about being grandparents, and I don't want to wait until your six months along just so we can figure this out."

ose crossed her arms. "So when exactly do you want to tell them?"

"I was hoping this weekend." He gave a pleading expression. "Assuming that you can stand to be around me that long."

She tapped her foot in debate. "I can try," she said eventually.

Scorpius grinned broadly. "I'll let them know we're coming."

"Ugggh, I can't believe I just agreed to that," moaned Rose into the arm of her old couch at Carla's apartment.

Matt walked around the couch and held a bowl of buttered soggy popcorn in front of her. "Your favorite," he said, taking the seat beside her.

Rose sniffed and perked her head up. Staring at the bowl, she extended her hand, digging into the bowl. "I don't know what I'm going to do Matt," she said, her mouth full of popcorn.

"Rose, what's the worst that could happen?" Carla said from the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of red wine.

Rose whipped her head around, but didn't have a response. Carla quirked her eyebrow. "Thought so," she said joining the other two in the living room. "I think you're overacting."

"Maybe," She uttered under her breath. "Probably. It's just that the thought of pretending that everything is alright makes me so frustrated. I am tired of pretending with him."

"If you don't want to go then just tell him that you've changed your mind," announced Matt as though it were that simple.

Rose grabbed another handful of popcorn. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Matt asked, sifting through the popcorn for a burnt piece.

Rose sighed. "You should have seen how happy he was."

Carla interjected. "Rose, he misses you of course he's happy."

"It's not just about that," She said softly, staring down to her hands. "He's excited about the baby and telling his parents and…" Rose looked up from her hands. "I don't want to keep that from him," She paused shoving a piece of popcorn in her mouth. "But I also don't want to be around him."

"You know it's been a year since he came to New York." Rose rubbed her forehead.

"Oh, how times have changed," joked Matt.

Rose flicked a piece of popcorn to him.

"What? It's true." Matt responded. "I mean think about it, this time last year you couldn't even stand the thought of going on a date with someone and now you're married."

"And pregnant," Carla added.

Rose chimed in. "And just as screwed up as before." She gave a witty smirk to her friends.

"Not in every way." Carla gave Rose's arm a soft squeeze.

"Sure feels that way," remarked Rose.

Carla tilted her head sympathetically. "You know whenever you decided to come back to New York, you can always have your old room back…for as long as you need," She added glancing at Rose's belly.

Rose looked to Carla and patted her hand. "Thank you, but I think that we're—" she rubbed her hand over the small bump. "fine at my parent's for now."

"I know, I was just giving you the option," Carla said sweetly.

Rose nodded in understanding, not wanting to admit that she had no idea where she or the baby would be living after it was born. A part of her hoped that it would be back with Scorpius, but she wasn't going to get her hopes up. "So, have you met my replacement?" she asked changing the subject.

Matt's posture stiffened. "Yeah, she's nice, very short, but nice." He looked to Carla nervously.

Rose chewed on her lip, "What was with that look?" she asked raising her eyebrows.

"Nothing," Carla said. "There's nothing to worry about."

Rose gave them a suspicious eye. "Right," she said sharply. "You're not telling me something.

Matt looked down to the empty bowl and stood up abruptly. "I'm going to make more popcorn."

"I'll help," Carla said quickly, following him.

"Yeah, like I'm going to let you off the hook that fast," Rose said following them into the kitchen. "What are you keeping from me?" She crossed her arms determined.

They exchanged another look, and then turned to Rose. "She might be Cornell's niece," Carla said in a gentle tone.

"Might?"

"Is," Matt confirmed.

Rose's arms dropped along with her mouth. "Well that's just great." She grunted. "He thinks that I'm not going to be able to handle my job." Rose covered her face with her hand and shook her head. "I'm going to be filing papers for the rest of my life," she whined stomping her feet.

"Oh calm down," Matt said throwing an arm over Rose's shoulders. "Not the rest of your life just until you retire."

"Matt!" screeched Carla hitting him hard in the arm.

Rose lowered her hands to glare at her supposed partner. "You are not funny," she shouted.

A/N: Alright so some good news and bad news. The good news is that you are finally caught up with website hpff and the point that I am currently writing at. The bad news is that you are finally caught up, which means you are going to be forced to follow updates through my crazy hectic school schedule. Not that I don't update frequently, I try to do so at least every 2 weeks but lately that hasn't been probable so it has been more like once a month. Anyways Ch. 4 is currently 50% done and thank you for reading. Please stick with me.

Now onto the chapter. What did you think? I hope you liked the little scene between them. Anyways please review, and Happy Holidays.