A/N: Sorry for the wait, kiddies! Hope it was worth it and please read my two other fics "Oh, Crap" and "Settling Down Happens to Other People." Thanks!

"Sometimes what you think you want isn't what's going to happen to you or even what will make you happiest." – Danielle Juarez

Chapter Forty

You Plus Me

Stephen Wood sat under the giant enchanted tent in the Burrow's backyard watching his girlfriend dance slowly with her father. A few feet away her Uncle Harry was trying to do the same with his daughter and his two daughters-in-law. It was an impossible endeavor because a very pregnant Kira insisted on her father-in-law's undivided attention and Lily, never one to be pushed aside, was not shy about nudging her sister-in-law out of her father's arms. All the while Calla tried to stay out of the way when she wasn't trying to run back into her husband's arms. But Kira and Lily weren't having any of that, so the petite red head remained on the dance floor. They all looked so happy. Stephen just wished he could say the same for Rose.

This backyard bash hadn't happened until two weeks after Albus' London wedding and Rose had been acting weird ever since. Stephen suspected he knew why but Rose wouldn't just tell him so all he had were his suspicions. Albus was married now, her younger brother was married with a kid on the way any second and after the wedding Lily announced that she and Scorpius were engaged. It seemed like everyone around her was getting married or having kids. Everyone but her and him.

Stephen's face scrunched up as he thought. He loved Rose with all his heart. He'd loved her for years, since before she moved in with him and he got his hands on that delectable little body. But… marriage… His parents were married but he just never saw himself walking down that road. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Rose, that wasn't even a question and children with her would be great. But… marriage…

It just seemed somehow unnecessary to him. It didn't help that as an international Quidditch star marrying the daughter of two members of the Trio their marriage would be under one of those Muggle microscopes. People would be constantly waiting for them to screw up or photographers would be dogging his steps trying to catch him in a compromising position with another woman, regardless of it he was actually doing anything wrong. He just felt that marriage added another layer of stress on the relationship that wasn't necessary to a happy life or a happy relationship.

But now he had to start thinking about marriage in a different light. How did Rose feel about marriage? It was more than likely that she wasn't interested in having children without first getting married and that could be problematic for them. Oh hell it would be more than problematic! It would be a fucking disaster.

Now Stephen was smarter than the average bloke. He was well aware that making decisions based on suspicions about how his girlfriend was feeling was a very bad idea. He had to talk to her, or get her to talk to him. If he didn't he might propose when she didn't want to get married or propose when that wasn't the problem. And he'd be damned if he got married only to find out that that wasn't what was bothering her. But how best to go about it? No one knew better than Stephen that when Rose didn't want to talk about something it was easier to pry open an oyster with your bare hands.

He may very well have to trick her into talking about it.

"Hey."

Stephen looked up at his lady love. "How are you, love?"

Her lips pressed together. "Do you want to go for a walk?" She turned around and headed out into the backyard without waiting for a response.

He could feel his heart pounding as he followed her. The last time Rose had invited him to go for a walk they broke up. Whatever this was it wasn't good. After a few minutes in silence, Rose sighed and sat down under a tree. Stephen stayed standing up. He felt better on his feet, but not by much.

"Rosie, I-"

"Stephen, I'm pregnant."

Stephen chocked on what he'd been about to say.

"It's been about a month, um, ever since your first win of the season. Remember we went out and drank… a lot and then when we got back to the flat…"

"We didn't use the charm," Stephen remembered.

"Well, I realized I was late two weeks ago, went to St. Mungo's and… I'm pregnant."

Stephen stared at Rose lost in thought. This changed everything. He had to marry her now. He was going to be a Dad and they'd never talked about having children outside of marriage. He was sure she'd want to be married- wait a minute.

Ever since they'd broken up while she was in school they'd promised each other that if something was wrong or bothering them they would tell each other before it got to the point that it was serious problem. Why hadn't she told him she was pregnant when she found out?

"Rosie?" She looked up at him, worry written all over her face. "Why did you wait two weeks to tell me this? I've asked you loads of times what was wrong and you always insisted that nothing was wrong. Why did you lie to me?"

"You never want to talk about our future, Stephen," she snapped. "Or if we even have one. I thought this would freak you out and… I was scared. I didn't know what to do."

"Of course we have a future, Rose," Stephen said, dropping to his knees in front of her. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I just-"

"You just what? Don't want children?"

"No! I mean- bugger it, woman! I want children, I promise you I've always wanted children and ever since we got together I've wanted children with you. And I'm not just saying that because you're pregnant."

They fell into silence again. Stephen watched Rose wrap her arms around her knees and bite her lip. He could tell she was terrified. He only wished he knew what to say to make her feel better but he wasn't too calm himself so he was at a loss. It was absolutely true that he wanted children with Rose. Hell he'd have been willing to have seven children with her if that was what she wanted! But he'd always assumed that if they did have children it wouldn't be for a long, long time. But it seemed that what he assumed would be in the distant future was happening right now.

He cleared his throat. "So we're having a baby…" Stephen nearly choked on the next bit but he had to say it. They were having a baby it was the right thing to do. "… um… ha… ahh… married- I mean-" Just because it was the right thing to do didn't make it any easier for him to say. "Marry me? Will you-? I mean- what I want to say-"

"Stephen," Rose sighed. "We're your parents married when they had your sister?"

He didn't really like thinking about it but- "No, they weren't."

"So it's no big deal if we wait until we're both ready for that step."

"Two things about what you just said that are causing me pause. First your father will kill me if we aren't married when you have that baby," Stephen insisted.

"He has no right to talk, besides Uncle Charlie isn't married to Aunt Charlie, is he? And they have three kids."

"All right. So that's sorted then. You'll try to talk your father out of murdering me-"

"Worse comes to worse I can always tell him that by killing you he's dooming me to a life of single motherhood. That should keep his wand in check."

"If you say so."

"What was the other thing?"

Stephen was quiet for a while. This was the part he was dreading. "What if I'm never ready get married?"

Rose didn't answer for a while and Stephen started getting worried. He loved Rose, he couldn't imagine his life without her, he certainly couldn't imagine living without her if she was having his baby. If it meant keeping her and his child in his life he would marry her and he would be happy to do it.

"If you're never ready then… I guess that's the way it is. I might not like it but what we've got here is working. So if I have to take the bad with the good so be it. Do I wish it was different, yes. But I'm not going to have this baby on my own and I don't want to be with anyone else so I'll take it."

She sounds so resigned, Stephen thought, like she's giving up something she really wants for me. Like I'm taking something she wants away from her.

All of the sudden Stephen hated himself. Rose was pregnant, she was feeling vulnerable and dependent on him to help her take care of this life changing event and here he was saying he might never marry her, perhaps destroying a girlhood dream to be the blushing bride.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he mumbled.

"I don't know," Rose said, standing up. She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "But I like you anyway."

Stephen smiled up at her and realized something. He was on his knees, she was before him. It was perfect… except- no! No he would do this for her. She deserved it and he loved her and they were having a baby.

He took a deep breath. "Rosie, will you-"

"Rose! Stephen!" Lily Potter's voice cut him off. "You guys, come on! Kira's in labor! We're all heading to St. Mungo's hurry!"

"Come on, Wood," Rose said. "You and I are going to be in that position in a few months we might as well see what it's like."

Stephen paused for a moment. He'd been so close and for a second asking her to marry him had felt so right. The moment was gone now and he was at a loss once more. He still felt guilty but the thought of asking her to marry him now was terrifying.

"Are you coming?" Rose asked.

He looked up at her and for a second he could see it. Her walking down the aisle on her father's arm, a smile bright as the sun on her lips, a glorious pure white dress molded to her perfect body and him standing at the altar waiting for her. And he was scared or nervous or unsure. He was happy, excited and so in love he had to declare to the world that Rose was the only girl for him and that they had picked each other over everyone else and that no other man would do for her.

The only thing was that he wasn't quite there yet but he could feel it, he could feel himself getting there.

"Yeah, Rosie, I'm coming."

And someday soon, I'll be there.

James looked down on his yet unnamed child and tried to pin point what he was feeling. Kira had gone into labor on the dance floor in his father's arms no less and now fourteen hours later their little bundle of baby was in the world. He'd handled the labor better than he'd thought he would. Watching Kira in pain had never been easy for him but when it was finally time for her to start pushing she did so with so much focus and determination that she hardly showed any pain. Before that when the contraction had been bad she'd done her best to hide it from him. She didn't do a very good job, barely biting back screams and squeezing his hand so hard he was lucky he could hold his newborn child. But they'd made it through and so had his siblings and their significant others.

No one else had made it all fourteen hours but Lily had transfigured the chairs in the waiting room into a few beds and they napped through, as Lily put it, "The boring parts." As James' baby was only about fifteen minutes old they had yet to let anyone outside the room know that they'd succeeded in creating a tiny awesome little person. And so far the baby was awesome. The screaming hadn't lasted all that long and right now it looked like trying to eat fingers was the thing to do.

James looked up at the Healer who was doing something between his wife's legs. "He's a little light," James said. "Is he supposed to be so light?"

"He's a perfectly healthy weight, Mr. Potter," the Healer said.

"Are you sure?" James asked. "Because now he seems too heavy. Is it normal for a baby to be so heavy?"

"Was he like this before the baby was born?" the Healer asked Kira.

"Finish up down there, Doc, or I'm going to charge you," Kira snapped. When the Healer finally did move away from her lady parts, Kira sat up. "So our little guy is both too light and too heavy. Anything else wrong with him?"

"Do you want hold him? Maybe you'll be able to tell," James said.

"No thanks I held him for the past forty weeks it's your turn."

"Are you sure? Cause I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with him. Could you just check?" James held out their son but Kira crossed her arms.

"Two things, James. First I just squeezed that giant baby out of my who-ha and I have to admit I'm kind of mad at him. And second the thing wrong with my son is the idiot who both sired him and is now holding him."

"You better be talking about me."

"I can't believe having children with you ever seemed like a good idea."

"Give me a break Kira I've been awake for a really long time."

"Just pushed a baby out of my bajingo- I think I got you beat."

"Is everything a competition with you? Next are we going to arguing about who he's going to love more?"

They were quiet for a moment.

"Gimme the baby!"

"We're bonding!"

"I'm the mother! I'm the one who's supposed to be bonding with the baby! Give me the baby!"

"No!"

"What are you two yelling about?" Albus asked, entering Kira's hospital room.

"Albus! Make James give me my baby!"

"What the hell, James!" Lily asked, pushing her way in and snatching the baby out of James' arms and handing him to Kira. "She's the mother here. They need to bond."

"But!"

"But nothing, Potter," Scorpius said. "Lily's right." Kira stuck her tongue out at her husband.

"You're only saying that because you're engaged. A future wife makes good mates go bad, Malfoy. It's a scientific fact," James grumbled.

"You're out of your mind, Potter," Scorpius insisted.

"No, he's actually right," Calla said. "How good of mate was Albus to you when we were engaged?"

"Could we not focus on the past please?" Albus asked. "Look the future's sitting right there." He pointed at his nephew. "And the future appears to be trying to eat Kira's breasts. That's nice."

"Albie's right, what-?"

"Albie?" James

"Hahahaha!" Scorpius

"Yeah Albie you're totally right!" Lily

"James let's name the baby Albie." Kira

"No way in hell!" James snapped.

"Well then what are you going to name him?" Albus asked, eager to change the subject.

"We're not naming him James," Kira said. "Or Albie."

James got up and sat on the bed next to Kira. "What if we name him after Dad," he suggested.

He knew Kira knew who he meant. Harry Potter had been more of a father to Kira then her own father had been in years. Even though the Fitzsimmons knew their daughter was pregnant they'd gone a European holiday and had missed the birth of their grandchild. As much as Kira had said and would say that it didn't bother her James knew better. Naming their son after the man who'd raised her would certainly show Harry how much she appreciated and loved him.

"Harry?" Kira said. "I don't know."

She didn't want to offend her father, regardless of how much he'd offended her. James kissed her cheek.

"Oh, good," Lily sighed. "Because we're naming our son Harry."

"You're pregnant!" Calla asked, clapping her hands.

"No, but in the future, Scorpius and I will be having a son named Harry Malfoy. So I call that name!"

"What a load of crap!" James yelled. "You can't call a name. Plus Harry Malfoy sounds stupid!"

"I agree with James, love," Scorpius said.

"You don't want to name our son after my dad or do you think Harry Malfoy sounds stupid?" Lily sounded insulted.

"That's not what I meant. I meant you can't call a name. James and Kira have a baby, we're not getting married for another year and who how long after that until we have kids. It's not fair."

"Plus you've got other options with the name," Calla said. "Like James and Kira can name their son Harry and you two can name your son Henry. Technically it's the same name."

The hospital room was quiet for a moment.

"Henry Malfoy?" Lily said, slowly.

"Henry Potter," James said, just as slowly.

"You can have Harry, we're taking Henry," Kira said.

"Unfair!" Lily yelled.

"I thought you wanted Harry," Scorpius said, confused.

"I did but Henry sounds so much better."

"Give it a rest pest, we beat you to it!" James said. He looked down at his newborn son. "Henry James Potter." Kira arched an eyebrow at the middle name. "What? I'm James Sirius Potter and Dad's Harry James Potter. He pulled my name from his name, with any luck Henry'll name his son James Henry Potter!"

"So we're just recycling names are we?" Kira asked.

"Sure beat coming up with new ideas."

Kira laughed. "All right then. Henry James Potter it is."

And even though Lily was grumbling about it, James and Kira's son certainly seemed like a Henry James Potter and, of course, an inevitable trouble maker.