Tom scowls down at the paper in his hands. "They say I'm getting soft?" he says spitefully.

Lucius Malfoy clears his throat and looks uncomfortable when Tom's glare falls on him. "Perhaps it's a good thing. Your approval rating has gone up since that night."

He's referring to the night of the Chinese Celebration. That Asian driver of the carriage had given an interview about how kind the Dark Lord was and how he graciously healed a defenseless cat that was on the brink of death after his beautiful and kind hearted wife asked him to.

He looks at the paper again. "They think that she makes all of my decisions now?"

Octavian frowns. "I don't think that's what was meant, my Lord."

"That is what they said." He snaps. He looks at the paper and reads from it. "The Dark Lord is definitely losing his hard edge that he built his empire on. His young wife and daughter seem to be influencing more and more of his decisions as of late. But where does this leave his Army full of blood thirsty men and woman? What are they to do when their leader would rather enjoy tea and crumpets then lead them in battle? There are no more executions or horrendous laws active anymore. One has to suspect it's his new little family that has him making all of these new choices for his empire. Perhaps it's the 'Dark Lady' who should be the one in control because she can obviously control her husband when so many others have failed." When he's finished reading he throws the paper down. "Who the fuck had the audacity to write this?"

"Would you like us to terminate the author, My Lord?" one of his followers asks nervously.

"Of course I want you to!" he yells loudly, extremely pissed off at the current situation he is in. His whole image is based on fear and power. If you take those two things away from him he has nothing. "And I want…" he looks down at the paper to see the name of the writer. "Harlen Quinn's head set on a pike in Diagon Alley so people will see how soft I've become."

With that he storms out of the room. As he stalks down the hallway a sight catches his sight out of the window. Isabel is wearing a light blue dress today and she's sitting on the grass with Calpurnia on her lap. Tom sneers at them and walks further down the hallway. If he needs to show the world that he still has power then he will and they will have no one to blame but themselves.

X

"She looks like a boy."

Isabel frowns down at Calpurnia as she attempts to crawl around on the grass. "Oh, she does not." She says while bending down and picking up the baby. "I think she looks adorable."

Tom scowls at the denim overalls and white t-shirt his small daughter is wearing. Calpurnia's jet black hair is starting to wing out around her temples and at the nape of her neck. She'll probably have curls. When she sees him she smiles around her yellow pacifier. The sun shines through the leaves of the trees casting patterns of light to play across her and her mothers pale skin. Both Calprunia and Isabel's eyes seem bright today; Tom realizes that they're the same shade of light blue.

"She looks like a boy." he repeats. Hating the common looking overalls and that they aren't gender specific. He doesn't want any one to be confused.

"Tom, if you came out here to just nag us you can go back inside." Snaps Isabel, turning her back on him and shifting the baby in her arms. They're just outside in the gardens of Tom's castle… no one is going to be judging them out here… but Tom. He's so picky "And everyone here knows she's a little girl anyways." She says, her voice changing softly as she addresses the baby. "Don't they, pretty girl?"

"Don't turn your back on me." He says hatefully with his hands in his pockets. Since she's had the baby her priorities have changed… and it doesn't please him at all. That article also has him on edge. "I'm speaking to you."

She sighs before turning around, taking the baby's hand in her own as she tries to touch her face. "What?"

"I don't like your tone." He says dangerously.

"I don't like you right now." She mumbles so he could barely hear her.

"What did you just say?" he snaps.

"I said I don't like you right now." She sets the restless child back on the blanket. "Why did you come out here? Just to start a fight because if that's the reason then you've succeeded."

"Why are you so bitchy today?"

She flicks a glance down at the baby and then back up at him. "I'm the bitchy one?" she says sarcastically, looking away.

He grabs her arm and his eyes narrow. He digs his nails into her skin and she whimpers. "Might I suggest that you not speak to me like that again." His voice drops and becomes frighteningly calm. "You might hurt yourself."

"Stop." She says solidly. She doesn't want him to freak out in front of Calpurnia.

"Stop what?" he asks cruelly. "Stop this?" he asks as he pushes her against the tree. The bark scratches her back and hurts her skin. He gets very close to her so he's only a few inches from her face. "I don't appreciate the way you're speaking to me, kitten."

Sometimes she forgets who he is; sometimes she believes that he's a normal person. She takes a very deep breath. "Why did you come out here?" She snaps. "We were doing fine before you decided to show up." She says and then immediately regrets it as soon as it leaves her mouth because the look in his eyes tells her she may have hurt him. The only reason he came out was to see them. He doesn't handle people very well. "Tom… I didn't mean…"

"Shut up." He says harshly, pushing her into the tree a little more. "This is my home, you are my wife," he points to Calpurnia who's sitting down on the grass, watching them with wide eyes. "and that is my child. I will not let you disrespect me."

"I'm not disrespecting you." She says tiredly. He's exhausting sometimes. "Will you just calm down." She says, pushing on his chest but he doesn't move. Something must have happened today because he is so ready to be defensive she thinks.

"Don't tell me what to do!" He screeches into her face making her flinch and turn away.

The baby starts crying from the outburst and Isabel tries to step around Tom to get to her but he pushes her against the tree again. "Can we do this later, please?" she says meanly. "I don't want to do this in front of her."

The baby screeches louder because she's afraid but Tom's cold gaze doesn't waver. "She should know what happens when you make me angry."

Isabel's eyes narrow and her jaw twitches. "I am not one of your followers, Tom. Neither is she. Now let go."

He back hands her hard across the face and she looks at him totally surprised. She didn't think he would do that anymore. The baby screeches again and tears sting her eyes. "Why did you do that?" she asks softly, bringing a hand up to her face.

"Because you deserved it." He says hatefully and she lets a tear drop. "Because I am the Dark Lord and can do whatever the hell I want."

She shakes her head and look away from him. Calpurnia's cries are now deafening and she's starting to cough. "You are not the Dark Lord to me." She says quietly, glancing at him quickly. "You're my husband and you're her father." She says nodding down to the screaming baby. "Don't treat me like one of your followers." She almost pleads to him. "I'm not disposable."

She pushes his chest and he lets her step around him to pick up the baby. "Damnit Tom." She says with tears in her eyes as she turns to face him again. "You need to learn to control your temper." She says fiercely, bouncing the baby in her arms, trying to calm her down. "We're your family. You don't have to be cruel to us."

He watches her and his daughter cry for a few more moments before turning his head away. He's never had a family before. "You shouldn't have spoken to me that way." He says tightly.

There's a moments pause and when he looks up at her she's looking off into the distance with tears still on her cheeks. Calpurnia has stopped crying and is sniffling against her shoulder.

"You're right. I'm sorry." She says finally, accepting his attempts at being civil. "I won't do it again."

He walks up to her and touches her cheek so she'll look at him. His face is set and serious, his eyes are uneasy. This is hard for him and she knows it. "Let's forget this conversation." He says, leaving out any room for discussion.

She nods her head tightly and hikes the baby up a little further in her arms. "She's getting hot. We should go inside." She says with a sigh.

She starts to walk away from him but Tom stops her. "I can carry her." he says, taking the little girl in his arms. He places his arm around the baby's middle so that her back is pressed into his chest and she can see everything around her. She loves it and smiles. "She does look cute." He says with a smirk and she's kind of surprised that he said it.

Isabel watches him from the corner of her eyes as they walk back towards the house and Tom talks to their daughter about the history of Salazar Slytherin's castle.

"Did something happen?" she asks quietly after he's done talking.

"What do you mean?" he snaps, turning Calpurnia around so her head can rest on his shoulder.

"You seem upset." She says carefully. "Like something is bothering you. You can tell me… maybe I can help."

"You think you know everything." He says hatefully and she raises her eyebrows. He's hot one second and cold the next. She can't figure it out. "and you know nothing."

"Why are you acting like this?" she whispers.

"Stop questioning me." He says and then he glares at her so hatefully that she has to take a step back. "Go to your room and stay there."

"What did I do?"

"You've annoyed me. Now go!" he yells, making Calpurnia cry in his arms again. Isabel steps over to him but he jerks away from her. "What did I say?"

"I was going to take her with me." She says with a voice laced in confusion. Why is he acting like this? He's been so nice to her recently.

"Did I say you could?" he asks cruelly. She just stares at him with wide eyes, not understanding. "No, I didn't. Now get your ass upstairs or I'll curse you."

"Tom…I don't..."

"One." He starts counting as he holds the baby in one hand and digs in his pocket for his wand with the other. "Two." He continues when she doesn't move. "You do not want me to get to three so I suggest you get fucking moving."

Her lower lip trembles as she turns around and speeds away from him. She falls down on the mattress in her room and cries because she is completely confused. She didn't do anything wrong. Why is he being so mean? She sniffs and wipes some tears away.

"What did I do wrong?" she says quietly to the empty walls in her room.

She stays in her room all day like he told her to but she worriedly paces around the floor, chewing on her lip because the baby is with him. What is he doing and why can't she have the baby with her? It makes her nervous and it makes her scared. She sits down on the bed and exhales slowly. Today is not a good day.

X

"Stay." Tom says as he sets his daughter on the floor in front of his desk. "Don't move."

She looks up at him with big eyes and he smiles down at her before sitting in his chair and shuffling through his stack of important papers. He gets so engrossed in his work that he doesn't hear her start to crawl off. His head snaps up when something crashes to the ground.

"What the hell." He says to himself as he walks over to the small table that Calpurnia had crawled to and pulled off the crystal vase. "I told you to stay." He tells the little girl as he picks her up again and sets her back down on the rug in the center of the room. He's trying to prove a point right now and he won't give in. "You are just like your mother." He says as he takes a book off a shelf and hands it to her for a toy. "You never listen."

The baby stares at the book and then crawls over it to follow him back to his desk chair. She makes small little babbling noises and coohing sounds that make him spin around and glare at her. "What did I tell you?" he snaps like he was talking to an adult, not a nine month old child. "I told you to stay. Listen to me!" he yells and she sits back and starts crying.

"Goddamnit." He says hatefully. "All you do is cry."

He's in a bad mood and taking it out on her. He turns away for a few moments, refusing to comfort her until she makes a pitiful sob noise and he realizes how unfair he's being to her. She doesn't know what's going on. He shouldn't punish her for it.

With a sigh he reaches down to pick her up but she jerks away from him because she's afraid of his voice when he yells. A weight settles on his chest when he sees her do this and when he picks her up he cradles her in his arms and kisses her cheeks and hair.

"Shh…" he says, trying to speak softly. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. I won't do it anymore." He knows that's an empty promise but he'll say it anyway so she'll stop screeching.

Her face is red and her smalls fists are cutting into his shirt. He rubs her back and kisses her ear. "It's alright, Cali." He says, trying to speak softly. "Don't cry."

"I could take her if you'd like." His head snaps up to the doorway and he sees Bellatrix Lestrange look at him with wild eyes. "I could make her stop crying."

He snorts. "I'm sure you could." He says. He knows better then to trust her with a baby. Her solution to get her to stop crying would probably be to kill her. "What are you doing in here?"

"To drop this off." She says, holding up another newspaper. "Another article on your lack of control and command."

He sneers. He knows he doesn't look very intimidating right now as he holds a baby in denim over alls against his chest. This is all Isabel's fault he thinks unfairly. "I want whatever company is publishing these papers to be burned to the ground. Do you understand?"

Bella nods her head and smirks. "Yes, My Lord."

"I don't want to hear any more about this." He says and then turns down to Calpurnia who has stopped crying and his chewing on shirt. He grimaces. "I want public executions of Order rebels now. If the people think they can get away with more because they think I'm turning soft then let them."

"Yes, My Lord." Bella says. Her wild eyes look down at the child in his arms and then back up at him. "Forgive me if I say that there might be some truth to what these articles are publishing." His eyes flash dangerously but she continues. "Master that girl has started to ruin you. She'll want you to throw away everything you've worked so hard for. Look at you now. The greatest wizard in history is holding a drooling, crying baby when he should be conquering the Americas."

"Get out of my office." He says flatly. He's the king of all Slytherin's he knows when he's being manipulated. "Now."

"She doesn't treat you like the great Lord that you are, Master. It's so hard to watch her disrespect you so openly."

"You had better be out of my office by the time I sit down."

She turns and leaves, shutting the door behind her and he sits heavily in his chair. Thinking there may be some truth to her words.

X

"Where is she?" she asks desperately when Tom storms into the room. It's almost one in the morning. She hasn't seen her baby all day "Where is Calpurnia?" she asks again.

Tom pushes her roughly and she falls down on the bed. His jaw is set and his eyes are blazing. She gulps loudly. "I am your Master."

"Tom…"

"I am not Tom," he cuts her off. "I am not your loving husband. I am your Master. Say it."

She shakes her head and tries to get up but he pushes her down again. "Say it now."

"I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" he says nastily. "Tell me what I am to you."

"Tom.." she starts again but he silences her with a smack to the face. That always hurts so much.

"Say it." He says, slightly crazed.

She lets tears come to her eyes as she touches her tingling cheek. "Why are you doing this?" she asks pitifully.

He scowls and grabs her hair, pulling her up to stand in front of him. "You are nothing but a whore to me. Now, I want to hear you call me Master." He tugs her hair and she whimpers. "Now!"

"You're my Master." She says with a voice thick with tears.

He shoves her back on the bed and begins unbuttoning his shirt. "All I want to hear out of your pretty little mouth from this moment on is Yes Master, or Please Master. Do you understand?"

She looks shocked for a few moments but the evil look in his eyes brings her back to reality. "Yes…" she says quietly and his glare becomes deadlier. "Yes Master" she corrects herself.

"Good." He starts removing his pants. "Take off your clothes and spread your legs for me." He tells her with an edge to his voice. "I've had a hard day and you are in for a very rough night."

Once they both are out of their clothes he falls on top of her and bites her neck, leaving his mark. "Ow, that hurts." She cries.

He pulls back and looks down at her. "If you complain again I will have you whipped in front of all of my Death Eaters. Do you understand?"

She cries for a few moments. What happened to him? He's so mean again. She nods her head when his hands tighten around her wrists. "Yes, Master."

He hesitates for the briefest of moments before slamming into her with such a force that she screams out because of the pain. Her body wasn't ready for him. She's not ready for him… this new him… She closes her eyes and prays that tonight will be over with quickly.