Tom groans into the pillow and attempts to cover his ears with his hands. "It is bloody four o'clock in the morning."

"She needs to eat." Answers Isabel tiredly. She stands from the bed and puts her feet into a pair of slippers before yawning loudly. She stretches her body and cracks her back. "I don't understand why you feel the need to whine so much. I'm the one that has to get up and feed her."

"I know, but every three hours seems a bit extensive, doesn't it?" Another loud screech reaches their ears and Tom winces. "I told you we need to get a nanny for this type of thing."

She rolls her eyes but doesn't feel the need to answer him. He was the one who just had to have children; he should have been prepared for the consequences. Her sour mood immediately changes when she walks into the nursery where their daughter is crying for her from her crib. She picks the baby up in her arms and smiles down at the little girl.

"You are annoying your father to no end, little one." she runs her fingers through Calpurnia's jet black hair before situating her so she can feed from her breast. "He deserves it, of course." She says quietly with a smirk.

Closing her eyes, she leans her head back against the edge of the chair and sighs loudly. She finds it odd that such a small and vulnerable thing can come from some one like Tom. He is a terrible man, but how terrible is he really and since she's had the baby where does that put her now? She'd be lost with out him and he's a bastard for making it that way…. But she's too tired to care right now.

Once the baby is full and changed she rocks her back to sleep and then puts her back in the cradle. With another loud yawn she walks back into the bed room and huddles under the covers. It's early December now so the old castle is cold. She scoots over to Tom's bare torso and buries her feet under his legs.

"You're feet are freezing." He states, while turning his back on her and attempting to move away.

"All you do is whine." She says as she scoots closer to him yet again and wraps her arms around him.

His body shivers. "I do not."

"Yes, you do." She plants her body right along his and rests her head against his neck.

"You are so fucking cold." He complains again. "I have to be up in one hour. I just want to get some sleep!"

"Well, it's your fault. You are the one who wanted a baby and you're the one who wants to live in this ridiculous old, ice box of a home...and it's also your fault that you have to be up early. You pretty much rule the whole damn world. I think you can be late for a meeting."

"If I'm not punctual that makes other people think it's okay," he snaps and then makes a weird frustrated sound. "Why am I even talking to you? Go to sleep."

She snuggles up a bit closer to him to suck in his body heat. With a loud annoyed sigh he turns around and takes her in his arms. She smiles against his chest. "Thank you."

"Stop talking or I'll make you sleep on the floor."

She smiles and closes her eyes. Tom is gone when she wakes up and with a stretch of her body she gets dressed, brushes her teeth, and then goes to the baby. While she's putting a small blue dress on Calpurnia she marvels at how much she's grown in the few months she's been here. When she was first born she was so small that she didn't even look real, but now she's perfectly healthy.

She smiles down at her ice blue eyes and makes a little cooing sound. She looks so much like Tom, having inherited all of his beautiful features like the coal black hair, light ivory complexion, and striking eyes. Some times when she cries Isabel half worries that her eyes will turn scarlet if she gets angry enough. That's a frightening thought.

After a quick breakfast she lifts Calpurnia to her shoulder and begins walking around the castle. There really isn't much else to do. She has no one to visit and no place to go. Her family is all dead and Tom probably killed all his family members just for existing. Again she stomps down a flash of worry that goes through her mind. He wouldn't hurt them now; he wouldn't let anyone hurt them either. He's not a very loving man but she thinks a part of him, somewhere deep down inside of him, has some fond feeling for her and their child. Hopefully.

"My Lady." Bellatrix twitches as she bows down.

"Oh," Isabel says coldly. "I didn't see you there Mrs. Lestrange."

"You are looking well." Says Bella, in a clearly disappointed voice. Isabel had been on bed rest for a few weeks after the birth, she was weak for a while. "and little Calpurnia looks healthy now."

Her eyes flash maliciously, making Isabel hug the baby to her chest a little tighter. "Yes, thank you." She says levelly and begins walking again.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" the older woman asks. Isabel eyes her skeptically. What's she playing at?

"Actually I was just going to go to the library." She says quickly, to get the point across with out having to out right say no.

Bellatrix smiles a twisted smile. "I will go with you." She says and starts following the younger girl when she begins walking. She looks down at the little baby in Isabel's arms. "The Dark Lord must have been so disappointed when he found out you were having a girl."

Isabel scowls. "He was not." She says heatedly as she brings her hand up to cover Calpurnia's ears. She knows she's too young to understand but she still doesn't want that poison to go into her brain.

Bellatrix ignores her tone. "Yes, he must have been. Our Lord had always wanted a male heir to help carry on the Slytherin name."

"Girls are just as capable as boys." She snaps.

They finally reach the library door but to Isabel's annoyance Bellatrix doesn't leave. She follows her inside and shadows her steps while she scans the rows for a good book. She is greatly uncomfortable now and she has half a mind to go tell Tom. Didn't she torture this woman once? Why is she following her around? She grabs a book and walks to one to the chairs to sit down. Bella follows and sits across from her with a weird look on her demented face.

"Is there something you want?" snaps Isabel meanly.

"Can I hold her?" she asks, nodding down to the baby who had fallen asleep.

Isabel almost laughs. "No, you can't."

Anger flashes in Bellatrix's eyes and Isabel almost feels guilty…. But there is no way that that woman is going to hold her child. "You know, when I was carrying the Dark Lords son he showered me with all kinds of gifts. What has he given you?"

The book falls to the ground and Isabel's heart starts to beat loudly. "What?" she says with a dry throat. She must have misunderstood.

Bella smiles like a feline ready to pounce on a mouse. "I was about twenty when I found out I was carry his heir. We were very, very close then you know. The Dark Lord favored me above all others." She says, almost dreamily. "He was a perfect lover and he gave me all kinds of magnificent things."

Completely disgusted Isabel narrows her eyes. "Where is this son of yours." She hisses out, feeling embarrassed and angered at the same time.

"I'm afraid I lost him before he was born. It was during a duel… The Dark Lord was horribly disappointed but swore to fill me again with another child… but nature wouldn't see things our way." She looks up with dark eyes at the younger woman. "You don't look very well, My Lady. Is something wrong?"

She shakes her head, trying not to cry all of a sudden. "You're lying." She says but doesn't believe that. Tom did say he had sex with her. It would make sense.

"I am not."

She knows she's not lying, she knows she's telling the truth. She can't stand to look at her anymore. She runs out of the room, successfully waking Calpurnia who begins crying hard against her shoulder. She goes all the way up to the bed room where she slams the door. So the whole time she was buried alive he was off trying to make a family with another woman. He had no intention of waking her, he probably even forgot about her for the longest time until Harry and his friends saved her.

That bastard. Bellatrix obviously loved him and even through her jealousy and bitterness Isabel can feel a bond with her. How could Tom treat someone so badly? Someone who loved him so completely like Bellatrix Lestrange? Her anger begins to ebb away as the cries of her daughter become louder. Her mother instinct takes over and she begins to rock her back and forth, trying to calm her down.

"I'm sorry, baby." She whispers against her hair, while tears soak into her shirt. "Don't cry." She says but almost laughs at the hypocrisy because she is crying too.

It's not fair. Again she hates him, she seems to find a new reason every day.

X

When Tom gets home Isabel is sitting on the stairs, waiting for him. He smirks when he sees her and begins removing his gloves.

"Were you getting lonely with out me?" he questions lightly, dropping the gloves and his cloak on a near by house elf. Her expression remains stony and he sighs. "What is it this time?"

"Were you disappointed that Calpurnia was a girl?"

Tom shrugs his shoulders. "We'll have more; one is bound to be a boy."

She stands up. "I don't want to have anymore of your children."

Anger flashes in his eyes, his good mood officially gone. "Luckily for me you don't get to make any decisions." He says hatefully.

"Why don't you give me anything?" She asks while following him down the hallway.

"What are you talking about?"

"You never give me anything."

"I've given you everything you have here. Your room, your clothes, your food, your baby…"

"I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm talking about gifts."

He stops and turns to her, frustration clear on his face. "What in the hell are you going on about now?"

"You're a hateful person!" she screams out of nowhere and stomps by him. "I hate you Tom Marvolo Riddle!"

He rubs his face. "When I left this morning you were perfectly fine. What happened?" he demands to know.

She spins around and glares at him. "You don't like me at all, do you? I'm just here to be some kind of baby factory for you since your precious Bellatrix couldn't have anymore heirs! Well, I'm not doing it anymore! I refuse to let you touch me."

"My precious Bellatrix?" he repeats. "What did she say to you?"

"Enough." She hisses. "You planned to keep me in that box forever, didn't you? If Harry Potter hadn't saved me you wouldn't have even tried."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, I do!" She places her hands on her hips. "I wish you wouldn't have done this to me and then I would have married Samuel Higgins and lived in a nice house in London. We would have had five children and I would have been teacher… but no! You had to ruin that for no reason what so ever! You ruin everything!"

"I would have killed Samuel Higgins before it ever got that far." He says in a deadly voice, but she ignores it.

"I loved him." she says scornfully. "I loved him like I'll never ever love you. No matter how hard you try." It was hateful and it was a lie, but she's too angry with him to feel bad.

Something close to pain crosses his eyes, but he soon gains control again. "Do you think I care if you love me? Do you think I actually care about anything like that from someone as pathetic as you? You're right, you're just a body I like to use and you have no power to stop me. I'm not above forcing you." He snaps.

"You are foul."

He stalks towards her, invading her personal space. "Do you want to know why I liked fucking Bellatrix Lestrange so much?" he doesn't wait for her answer; he enjoys the pain that flickers across her face before continuing. "It was because she was strong and powerful in ways that you'll never be. She never walked around crying all day like some wounded little girl."

"Then it must have been a real disappointment when she lost your son and couldn't have your evil little babies anymore, right?"

"What?"

Ignoring her furious tears she continues. "She told me about how you two were very close when she was younger and how happy you were when she was carrying your son. You gave her all kinds of gifts and wanted her to have more of your heirs after she lost the first one. It's a shame that she couldn't… then you wouldn't have had a need for me. Is that why you made me take that potion? Just in case something like that happened, and I'd be a ready body?"

He straightens up and narrows his eyes, "She lied to you."

"Don't start that with me." She says fiercely. "I don't want to be here anymore. I don't want to be with you."

"Why would you trust anything that woman said?" he asks harshly while she turns her back on him.

"Because it's the truth and you said it yourself, you liked being with her because she wasn't weak like me. I'm tired of being weak and doing whatever you say. I refuse to do it anymore!" she yells and then runs away from him.

Angered beyond belief Tom stomps up to his bedroom. He needs to calm down and he's exhausted from all the work he had to do today and having a fight with her doesn't help anything. He starts to unbutton his shirt as he glares out the window. Why does he let her rile him up like this? Usually he can fake indifference in most matters, but not when it comes to her. He scowls at that thought, at his weakness, at the power she has over him.

He takes a quick shower, figuring Isabel will calm down eventually and while he's getting dressed he hears crying coming from the nursery. He looks around him; no one is in here to get her. He lets her cry for a few more minutes while he gets dressed and combs his hair. Then with a frustrated sigh he walks into the baby's room.

Flinching at the noise, he stalks up to the crib and looks down at his daughter. "Stop crying." He says flatly. She looks at him with large blue eyes, drowning in tears and then she starts screaming again. Officially annoyed he glares at her. "Stop making so much noise." He says again. Isabel usually handles her when she's like this, he doesn't know what to do.

He almost turns around to get someone else to take care of her but the noise dies down so he looks at her again. Her small arms are reaching up towards him and she's looking at him helplessly. He sighs before reaching down and picking her up. Something funny happens to his heart every time he holds her and feels her tiny heartbeat against his own. She lays her head against his shoulder and he brings his right hand up to runs his fingers through her dark hair that feels like silk. She's soft and sweet, just like her mother.

The very same mother who pissed him off so badly before. He narrows his eyes at the far wall remembering their fight. Why does she get so angry with him for things like that? If Bellatrix did tell her those lies then he'll have to punish her again, it's almost not worth it. That woman is so far gone it doesn't matter what you do to her. She'll never learn her lesson. Calpurnia makes a strange babbling noise by his ear so he shifts her so he can look into her face. She smiles at him and he can't help but smile back. Children are amazing… well, not all children, his children.

"Are you trying to talk?" he asks her. He speaks to the baby as he would speak to anyone else, no baby talk or silly voices will ever come from him. She gurgles something in reply and brings a small hand up to his face. He takes it from his cheek and kisses her palm. "Let's go find your Mother, shall we?"

Secured in his arms he walks out of the room with her in search of his wife. He figures if he has the baby with him she'll be more likely to forget about everything and come back to her senses. He starts talking to Calpurnia the whole way there about magical theory, because it only seemed right and when he reaches the bottom of the stairs he sees Octavian.

"My Lord." The old man says deeply, while bowing his head.

"Have you seen Isabel?" he asks, not feeling like searching the whole castle by himself.

Octavian looks uncomfortable for a few moments. "Well, yes, I have."

He puts his hand on Calpurnia's back to steady her as she tries to swivel around to look at who he's talking to. "Where is she?" he asks, annoyed.

"I believe she's in the North tower." He answers. Tom begins to turn away in that direction. "My Lord, if I may?"

He turns around with a raised eyebrow. "What?'

"It is my experience…with my own wife and daughters that young women tend to be highly sensitive after their first born." He looks Tom in the eyes. "Especially one who is surrounded more by snakes then she is friends."

Tom narrows his eyes. "Do you suggest then that I shouldn't go find her?"

"No, My Lord." He says gently. "Young mothers barely get any sleep, trying to take care of the new baby and it's hard for their bodies to adjust to all the changes. That makes their emotions jump all out of sorts. Perhaps you should try to be… kind to her."

"I am always kind to her." he hisses. "I believe you go too far." He says angry that someone below him was trying to tell him how to behave.

"I apologize, My Lord." Octavian says with a nod of the head.

Tom stomps off in search of the North Tower. He stops a few times to let Calpurnia look at the stained glass windows that litter the hall as he climbs up the spiral staircase. When he reaches the top, rounded room he finds her asleep on a powder blue, Victorian styled, chaise lounge by the window. She looks so peaceful, nothing like the screaming, crying, woman who attacked him earlier.

The baby in his arms becomes excited at seeing her mother and she begins babbling and bouncing in his arms. "Calm down." He tells her, while rubbing the smooth skin of her arm.

"Is she alright?" comes Isabel's tired voice. Tom looks to her and she looks down. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep, I didn't mean to. I'm sorry you had to take care of her." she says mechanically.

She lies on her back and rubs her eyes, yawning; he takes the moment to sit beside her on the chaise lounge chair. She looks surprised.

"It's to be expected." He says while he plays with his daughter by moving his hand out of her grasp. She reaches her small arms out to his hand and then he brings it closer to her within reach, he pulls away again and she giggles. "You know young mothers are always very tired because their bodies are getting use to having to take care of a baby for the first time." He says, repeating what Octavian said before, but owning it himself. "They're also more emotional." He says, watching her reaction out of the corner of his eye.

She sits up on her elbow and nods her head. "You're right." She says and then sighs tiredly, letting her head fall down to her shoulder. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did. Maybe I did get carried away." She brings her hand out and runs her finger down Calpurnia's flushed round cheek. "You are a good Father, Tom." She observes as the baby lays her head tiredly against his chest.

He smirks at the compliment and turns his body to face her. Taking what she just said as a signal that she isn't upset anymore. He puts his right hand on the cushion beside her body, caging her in underneath him.

"What Bellatrix told you was a lie." He says, watching her face as she relaxes against the pillows. "She was never carrying my child and I never had any intention of her doing so." She nods her head tightly to show she believes him. "She'll be punished for lying to you."

She furrows her bows. "No, don't do anything to her." He raises an eye brow at that. She reaches her arms out and takes the baby from his arms, resting her on her chest. "She loves you, Tom. It can't easy for her to see me every day."

"Are you sure?" he asks slowly, not understanding why she wouldn't want revenge for how upset the lie made her.

"I'm sure." She says tiredly. "I wish we didn't have to stay here though, with all of your Death Eaters always around. I don't like that."

"This is our home." He says solidly, leaving no room for discussion. She nods her head and turns away, making small patterns with her fingers on the baby's back. "I know that Bellatrix Lestrange has always loved me," he says in a low voice. "but do you love me too?" he doesn't know why he wants to know.

"I thought you didn't care if a pathetic girl like me loved you, remember?" she says fiercely. Some of her anger returning.

"I said that after you told me that you never could love me the way you loved that… that mudblood." He spits out. Their voices are harsh but they are trying not to yell because of the baby.

She sighs and sits up, making him sit up straighter as well. His eyes are intense and she realizes that she hurt him terribly when she said that. "I lied when I said that." She confesses.

That seemed to have made him happy. "So you think you could love me?" he asks, almost wanting to kill himself for wanting to know. What happened to him? When did he start caring about silly things like love?

"No," she says and his face falls. "I'm a fool because I love you already, and I shouldn't. There really isn't a reason why I should. You aren't very good to me." She looks at him in the eyes. "You are actually pretty horrid to me, if you think about it. You are a terrible person; in fact, I think you are the worst person I've ever met. You're probably the most terrible person in the whole entire world."

He smirks at her. "But yet…"

She sighs tiredly, giving up. "But yet… I do love you." She doesn't really have a choice.

No one has ever said that to him before and he's surprised that he finds he likes the way it sounds. He smiles at her. "There is going to be an honorary celebration on Friday. We are the guests of honor."

She frowns, hating those types of things… and hating the person Tom becomes in front of all of his followers. "For what?"

"Honestly, you never listen to anything I say, do you?" he snaps and she blushes. "China has finally surrendered."

"Oh," she says lightly. Another country conquered is not really good news for her.

"I want you and Calpurnia to look presentable and to be on your best behavior."

At that she sits up straight and furrows her brow. "You want to bring the baby?" she asks worriedly, not liking the idea.

"Of course." He says arrogantly as he pets the baby's hair with his large hand. "I think now would be a good time to introduce her to the world."

"No." she says steadily. There is no way that she is going to do that. "No, she is too young."

Anger flashes in his eyes and his expression becomes stony. He doesn't like being told no. "We are going to do things my way." He says dangerously.

She knows that tone so she tries a different method. She takes a deep breath and turns Calpurnia's body so she's facing her father. "I'm not trying to start a fight." She says gently, reaching a hand out to his leg. "I just think it's dangerous to have her around so many people. Especially at this age."

He stands up and kisses the top of her head, his anger gone. "I've already made up my mind." He smirks down at his little family, placing his hands in his pockets. "The people have a very negative perception of their Dark Lord. Perhaps seeing my little girl will change their minds."

With a wink he turns to walk out of the room. "So this is all about politics." She says angrily. Mad at the thought of Tom using their daughter to gain support.

He looks over his shoulder when he reaches the door way. "It's always about politics, sweetheart." He says as his eyes travel over her as she stands up. "I won't be here for dinner tonight, but I want you in my bed at ten, waiting and ready for me. Hopefully you can make up for the way you treated me earlier." His voice drops and she knows if she not where he wants her to be tonight that he'll probably punish her for it. "Today has been long and I'll need your help to unwind."

He smirks at her before turning a walking away. She frowns at the doorway and listens to his retreating steps. How does he manage to turn everything around? A part of her is upset at the way he speaks to her and the other part is excited for him to come home later tonight, and another part of her has no idea what she wants.

She looks down at her daughter and smiles sadly. "Let's hope that you aren't as confusing as your father when you grow up."