So glad so many of you enjoyed the last chapter :) Here's the next one...sorry, I'm not making this at all easy for them (that would be boring :p) But, I hope you like it...

Disclaimer: Just a fan in love with characters and a world created by JK Rowling.

Chapter Eleven

Ron was pacing the lounge by the time we arrived back home by the floo network, laden down with bags and children. It had taken longer than I thought to leave The Burrow, saying goodbye with children wasn't as simple as just saying the word. There were dashes back upstairs for items Rose suddenly realised she had forgotten, Grandma packing them up with some cakes they'd made the day before and Hugo crawling under the sofa for his cuddly dragon. And then Molly had made me promise to ask Ron about him seeing herself and Arthur soon and gave me a dozen messages for him. I suggested it might be easier if she wrote him a letter. But, finally we left. And now, we all stood in silence as two little children stared up at the tall man they barely remembered.

Finally, I stepped over the grate and dropped their bags on the floor, before sitting Hugo down on the sofa. Rose was clinging to my leg, peering suspiciously up at her Ron. "You shaved?" I suddenly noticed.

"Oh, yeah," he rubbed his face. "Thought it'd help if I looked as much like they'd remember me as possible," he shrugged. I noted he'd also been into the closet in our room and took out some of his old clothes. A million emotions went through me at seeing him in his beloved bright orange Chudley Cannon's T-shirt.

"Okay, so...Ron, this is Hugo, and this is Rose," I tried to prise her out from behind me, but she refused to budge. "Children, this is your daddy." It felt so absurd to be introducing his own children to him like that, after all he'd been there at both of their births – heck he'd delivered Hugo, a fascinating tale I had yet to tell him about. He'd spent many sleepless nights comforting a teething Rose, pretending to enjoy endless tea parties with her and hours spent holding his baby son. It was cruel that he didn't remember them.

"Hi." He crouched to their level to say hello to the kids.

"Hi!" Hugo grinned at him. Rose merely scowled. Ron looked up at me.

"She's a little confused," I explained.

"You like dwagons?" Hugo jumped down off the chair and studied his dad closely.

"Yeah, sure buddy," Ron grinned at him, Hugo's exuberant spirit was infectious. "Dragons are great."

"He like dwagons Mummy!" Hugo's little eyes widened in glee as he turned to me, smiling wide.

"I heard," I patted his head. "You now have a friend for life,." I laughed at Ron.

"You see my dwagons?" he asked his dad.

"Sure, that would be great," Ron grinned at him and saw the relief on his face that at least his son was being so accepting of him. But then Hugo was two years old, he had no fear and anyone who liked dragons must be great in his book.

"You come." He took Ron's hand and began to drag him to the stairs.

"You wanna come with us Rose?" Ron asked her.

She shook her head and held on to me tighter.

"She no like dwagons!" Hugo told him. "Come on!" he repeated urgently as he tugged harder and Ron, laughing, followed after him. I knew they'd be fine together.

"We'll go find something for lunch then, shall we?" I asked Rose as I took her hand and led her through to the kitchen. "What would you like?" I asked her.

She shrugged, standing sulkily in the middle of the kitchen as I opened cupboards and began pulling things out.

I frowned. "Well, can you set the table for Mummy?" I asked, placing the cutlery on the table along with some plates.

She began to do as I asked, slowly and in silence as she banged things down much harder than needed.

"Didn't you want to go upstairs to play with Daddy and Hugo?" I asked, scrubbing some potatoes in the sink.

"No," she muttered tersely.

I took a deep breath and bit my tongue, continuing to clean the potatoes and then stick them in the oven to bake, knowing they'd be done much quicker with the help of magic than the simple Muggle appliance. "Well, aren't you at least going to say hello to Daddy?" I wondered.

"He not my daddy!" She spat the words at me, threw down the last fork and charged for the back door.

I caught up with her before she could get outside. "Hey," I stopped her. "Rosie," I spoke gently when I realised she was sobbing. "Come on sweet girl." I sat on the floor and pulled her into my lap. "It's okay…I promise you, he is your daddy. He's the same man you loved two years ago…and he loves you still, even if he can't remember you yet, he does love you and he wants to be friends."

Rose continued to sob. "Don't like him," she choked.

"You've barely given him a chance sweetheart," I brushed back her hair and kissed her forehead. "That is your daddy. He's home now, and…"

"He leaved us!" She yelled at me. "He leaved us all alonely and maded you cry and be sad. And...I hate him!" she yelled.

"Rose!" I exclaimed in shock. I had never expected this reaction from her. "Don't say…" I looked up then and saw Ron, holding Hugo, stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

He looked utterly crestfallen as he set Hugo down and hung his head, rubbing the back of his neck agitatedly. "Erm…Hugo wanted to show me the garden," he muttered, trying to pretend that he hadn't heard or that she'd upset him.

"This way daddy!" Hugo pulled him again, completely innocent to the sudden tension in the room. It seemed Hugo had none of the qualms his sister had. Already he had adapted to calling Ron, daddy, so easily accepting of him. Ron followed after the little boy unenthusiastically, just letting himself be pulled along. He avoided eye contact with the pair of us sat on the floor. Rose had buried her head in my shoulder and hidden from him at the sound of his voice anyway.

"Ron…" I tried to stop him, mortified that he'd heard that. She was just a very confused and lost little girl right now and she didn't mean what she'd said. Unfortunately for all of us, the bad times; seeing mummy cry, us being suddenly alone, and seeing me trying to deal with it all, those images were much more recent and familiar to her than all of the happiness and joy we'd shared before as a family of four. But, he couldn't really understand that. "She'd didn't mean…"

"Hermione, don't," he cut me off. "Just…leave it," he muttered as Hugo succeeded in pulling him outside and across the garden.

I sighed deeply as I got to my feet and sadly watched them go, Hugo cheerfully babbling away to him as they walked together to the bottom of the garden. Why couldn't everything be as simple as the way a two year old saw the world?

I turned back to Rose who looked up at me from the floor. She'd stopped crying now and just stared at me wide eyed and forlorn. Although I was upset with what she'd said and my heart was breaking for Ron to have heard that, I couldn't be angry with her. She was just a little girl who'd had to deal with far too much in her young life. I couldn't expect her to understand this. And yet, I was at an absolute loss of what to do. I should have prepared her earlier, given her more time to accept the situation. Maybe this was all too soon. I considered floo-ing with Molly or calling my Mum for advice. I knew I couldn't force her to accept Ron, but perhaps I could somehow persuade her to give him a chance.

And that was when an idea came to me. Giving the food cooking in the oven a quick glance, I turned it down with a flick of my wand and then scooped my daughter into my arms and carried her through to the lounge. Sitting her on the couch, I gathered together a couple of heavy photo albums and sat beside her. Maybe some visual reminders would help?

Rose huffed beside me as I opened up the album – they were all photos she'd seen a dozen times before after all. But, usually she liked to hear about the stories that went along with them. Stories about her mum and dad before she came along, stories of her when she was a baby. Now, something had changed and I suspected it had to do with Ron coming back into our lives.

"Look." I pointed to a page. "That's Mummy and Daddy on our wedding day. That was one of the best days of my life," I added and smiled at her. "You know what one of my other best days was?" I asked, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear. She merely shrugged and twirled her finger in her hair – something she did when she was upset.

"The day I found out daddy and I were going to have you." I continued. "We wanted a baby so much, and then you came along." I kissed the top of her head and flipped a few pages through the album until I found one of me heavily pregnant. Ron stood behind me, his hands lovingly rubbing my huge bump as I tried to swat him away playfully. "That's when you were still in Mummy's tummy," I added, for probably the hundredth time I'd told her all this. "Daddy liked to feel you kick. And he'd talk to you and tell you silly stories," I laughed at the memory.

We'd spend hours just lying in bed whilst he had a long chat with my belly. The chats became longer as my bump got larger. "He loved you before he even met you. We both did." I hugged her to me. She actually relented a little and lay her head on my shoulder. "And this, was right after you were born," I'd turned the pages again.

"Yucky!" She poked her tongue out, finally joining in. She usually loved it when we looked through these. "I got goo on me!" She wrinkled her tiny button nose – so unlike her father's.

"Well, you hadn't had a bath yet," I smiled. "You'd been in mummy's tummy for a long time, so I think you needed bath." I chuckled lightly as she snuggled further into me. "Look at your daddy, I don't think his smile could get any bigger," I laughed. "He was so proud to have a little baby girl." I added and looked down at her face. Luckily she wasn't quite old enough to figure out what I was trying to do here. "And here he is holding you."

"He looks silly," she commented and shook her head.

"He was scared of dropping you. You were so precious to both of us and we didn't want to hurt you. Daddy used to worry about that a lot. But, as we got to know you more, it got easier.

One of your favourite things was when he blew raspberries on your belly, you'd laugh for hours when he did that." I smiled, thinking back on the amount of times I'd caught them doing that together. It never failed to make her laugh – even if she'd been screaming the house down moments before.

"What do Mummy?" Hugo bounded in from the kitchen.

"We're looking at photos sweetheart." I smiled up at my son, unsurprised to see the dirt on his nose. "Did you have fun outside?" I asked him. He nodded eagerly as he climbed up on the sofa and nuzzled in under my arm on my other side.

"Eurgh, your hairs wet!" I complained as he touched the bare skin of my arms.

"Sorry, it started raining outside," Ron apologised, looking awkward and casting furtive glances towards the door as though he didn't think he should intrude. It was going to take awhile for him to get the idea that this was his home and he had every right to be here. I smiled at him, hoping I was reassuring.

"That baby!" Hugo spoke loudly as he pointed to the photo.

"Yes, that's your sister. When she was a baby with her daddy."

"Baby Hugo!" He insisted.

"No, it's me!" Rose shouted at her brother.

"Rose, we don't shout at each other. Hugo, that is Rose. You weren't born yet."

Ron was making a sneaky retreat for the hallway, seems my smile hadn't reassured him much.

"Daddy! Come look!" Hugo called him over.

"Nah buddy. I'll just erm…" he nodded his head upwards, obviously planning on hiding out upstairs.

"No, stay!" He told him and jumped off the sofa to pull him over.

"Stay Ron. Please?" I asked him.

He sighed and reluctantly allowed Hugo to lead him back into the room. He sat in the armchair though, giving his daughter her space. This wasn't the way I imagined things at all – they'd missed their father so much, I thought they'd be excited to have him back. Looking over, I gave him another smile, knowing how he must be feeling. He gave me a brief, though weak, smile in return, before his face took on a solemn look again.

I turned the page of the album. "Hugo!" He squealed and pointed to the photo of a baby.

"No, that's Rose too," I explained. "Daddy was making her fly."

"I fly!" He insisted.

"Daddy did that with you as well," I sighed turning a few pages. "There's you," I pointed to my large belly. "Inside mummy's tummy!"

"Nooo," Hugo giggled as though that was the most ludicrous idea in the world.

"Yes, you were in there. And there's you Rose, on your Dad's shoulders. You were always such a daddy's girl," I sighed, kissing her head.

"I see Hugo!" He tugged at the pages, wanting to see his own baby pictures.

"Okay, settle down. Don't spoil the book." I took his hand away and skipped ahead to a photo of his birth. Right, there you are. Just after you were born, here, in the middle of a blizzard." I pointed to the squirming bundle I was cuddling.

Ron was staring at us and got up to look at the photo over our shoulders. He then looked around the room and back to the couch, before studying the photo again.

"Are you alright?" I asked him.

"Shh, wait." He shook his head.

I just stared at him as both the children looked at him in fascination. Hugo giggled, thinking he was playing a game. I tried to shush him, watching Ron with concern. He looked so serious and puzzled about something, as though he was struggling to do his potions homework again.

"You went into labour, right there!" He suddenly spoke and pointed to the sofa.

I gasped, realising he had remembered something. "Which one?" I wondered how much he remembered.

"Hugo." He replied. "It was late...snowing and we were alone?" he asked. I nodded. "Labour was really fast and…we couldn't reach anyone to let them know we needed help. You…you gave birth right here, on the couch. And, oh Merlin….I delivered him?" he looked up, stunned and yet a look of pure magic on his face, as though he was seeing his son come into the world for the first time. Though, I realised, in his mind he actually was.

"That's right!" I closed the album as I grinned at him, going back to that night in my mind as though it had happened yesterday.

Ron was knelt with his head in the fireplace, yelling for his Mum, for his Dad, for anyone to hear him. Becoming more and more panicked with each passing second. "Where the bloody hell…" he muttered, pulling his head from the fire. "You all right love?" he asked, scooting to my side quickly and checking on me.

I nodded as I breathed through another pain. "It…it's…go...ing..off, now," I managed to hiss out the words as the latest contraction dispersed.

He quickly kissed my damp forehead. "I'm gonna try Mum again." He was already heading back to the fireplace.

"No, Ron!" I yelled to get his attention. "They...they're not home. They went to that award ceremony for your Dad at the Ministry, remember? I think the whole family went with them." I'd only just remembered that it was tonight that Arthur was being awarded for his long standing services to the Ministry. The whole family had been invited, but at nine months pregnant I had no inclination of getting dressed up and going anywhere, so we were staying in.

"Merlin's bollocks!" He gasped and smacked his own forehead. "But, we need her. You need her. I can't…I can't do this." He began to pace back and forth in the lounge, glancing back at me and then frantically at the fireplace as though expecting for someone to pop out of it and help us.

"Ron...please, I need you," I reached my hand out towards him, not wanting him to leave my side.

"Maybe...maybe I should disapparate us both to St Mungos?" He suggested.

"Don't you dare move me," I hissed at him. I was in so much pain right now, the thought of apparating in my condition made me want to vomit. "Besides, we can't leave Rose." I pointed out.

Ron groaned and slumped back on his heals beside me. "Then, then...maybe, I can send Beau with a letter and..."

"It will never get there in time," I rebuffed his idea whilst squirming on the sofa as I tried to rub my own back that was killing me.

Ron noticed and pushed his hand behind me, rubbing his hand in small circles, the anxiety evident on his face. "Hermione," he whispered, his lips close to my hair, "what, what if they don't come? What if no one comes and…."

"Ron, please keep calm. I need you." I grasped hold of his other hand again, becoming anxious myself. This wasn't how it should be happening at all. "Owww!" I moaned and just as he grasped my hand, another contraction hit me and I squeezed his fingers. Hard.

"Ow! Damnit Hermione…let go," he yelled and tried to get his hand free. "Owww…" he moaned in pain, right along with me.

"My Mum," I gasped, as he yanked his hand from mine when it was over again. "Call my Mum," I told him.

"Oh, yeah." He was shaking his hand and flexing his fingers as though he thought I'd broken them and then ran off in search of my little mobile phone I kept to keep in touch with my parents. "Hello?" He put it to his ear. "There's nothing there." He looked at me and then stared at the phone as though it had offended him.

"You have to turn it on," I tried to sit up on the sofa. He came to help me. "Give it here," I snatched it from his hands, turned it on and dialled my parents number. But, before they answered, another contraction was coming. I was a little alarmed at how fast they were happening now – every minute. Things hadn't progressed this fast at all with Rose. "Here," I thrust it at him, almost throwing it across the room.

Ron grabbed the phone and spoke to my mum, explaining everything that was happening. "What?" he looked up at me startled. "Oh no…please no." He shook his head and I stared at him, trying to get through the contraction and worried about what my mum was telling him. "Well, as soon as you can then. I'll try." And then he hung up, tossing the phone behind him. "You won't believe this. Your mum's car won't start! And apparently there's a blizzard going on out there!" He went to the window and pulled the curtains aside, cursing under his breath. Obviously my Mum had been right about the snow. He turned back from the curtain, letting it fall back over the window.

"Ron," I called him over, really nervous now that I knew we were really all alone out here. Just us and our two year old daughter asleep upstairs. "Ron, please…" I reached for him.

"I'm here, I'm here." He was at my side and brushing damp hair from my face. "Just so long as you don't try to break my hand again," he chuckled.

I shot him a withering look. He merely smiled at me and wiped the sweat from my brow with a cool, damp towel.

"I didn't think this was supposed to happen for another couple of weeks," he muttered then.

"Yeah, well your child is obviously in a hurry," I breathed and winced suddenly.

"You okay?" he panicked again.

"Just…pressure," I told him.

"So much for our quiet night in, huh?" Ron chuckled lightly as he knelt by the sofa and held my hand, brushing back my hair and trying to calm himself as much as me. "A patronus!" He unexpectedly blurted out."I can send a patronus to the Ministry..." He rambled, shuffling away from me to grab his wand from the table.

I shook my head, pulling him back as suddenly my body stiffened and I bit my bottom lip, holding my breath. The pressure I'd felt had increased dramatically and I felt sure I knew what was happening. This wasn't my first time after all. My face must have given away my stricken realisation. "No time," I gasped.

"What's wrong?" Ron froze too, looking me up and down for any sign that something had happened.

"I think….I think it's coming," I whispered.

"What?" His eyes widened. "Oh bloody hell! No! It can't! I mean…can't you hold it in or something?" He grasped his hair, fisting his fingers in clumps of ginger locks and looked frightened.

"No I bloody can't!" I snapped at him. "What do you want me to do? Cross my legs?"

He shrugged. "If it will help!"

I slapped him for that. "Idiot! If the baby is coming, it's coming. You need to go and look."

"Look? For what? Do you mean….down there?" He nodded towards my nether regions.

"No, I think it might come out of my nose!" I snapped at him again. "For Merlin's sake Ron, it's not as though you've never seen me down there. Go look!" I yelled at him.

"Yeah, but…" he mumbled to himself. "Not like this…" he muttered, grudgingly helping me to push the blanket aside. My yoga pants and underwear had been removed after they became drenched when my waters had broken a little while ago. "Now…what can you see?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's dark," he muttered. I shoved him and another pain was coming. "Hang on." He grabbed his wand from the coffee table behind him, muttered 'lumos' and shone it between my legs. "Oh shit…oh crap," he hissed. "I…I can see the head. Oh crap…"

"I need to push," I moaned.

"No, don't!" he panicked again. "I don't…I don't know how to do this!"

"You were there when Rose was born, stop being an idiot and help me here. RON!" I yelled at him as I breathed heavily. I got him to look at me and I held his gaze for a moment, imploring him to listen to me. "Please…I need you. We have to do this, together."

"Okay, okay," he nodded, "I can do this…I can…oh crap, there's hair, I can see hair. What do I do?" He looked up at me.

"Just…guide the baby out…"I tried to move my legs to give the baby room to be born. Ron sat on the bottom of the sofa and helped manoeuvre me. "Now, just place one hand on the head, and one underneath and the baby will come." I told him, thanking my lucky stars I'd been present during a couple of my sister-in-law's giving birth over the last couple of years.

I pushed then, just a little and already I could feel the baby move. This was all happening so fast. Rose seemed to take forever to arrive and this baby was almost here less than two hours since my waters broke.

"It's coming," Ron muttered. "It's coming…"

I pushed again, trying not to scream. I didn't want to wake Rose and scare her. The last thing her innocent mind needed was to walk in and see all this going on.

"It's stuck," Ron looked at me frantically. "It's stopped."

I shook my head. "It will come…just, the shoulders," I told him between pants and began pushing again.

"Okay…it's moving again, it's coming…it's…oh Merlin, Hermione," he whispered in wonderment as the baby slid into his hands. "It's….it's a boy." The room was filled with the sounds of angry, protesting wails as Ron grinned, looking up at me in awe with eyes that shone of love. Using his wand and listening to my guidance, he managed to cut the cord and then grabbed the blanket that had been covering me, he wrapped the baby in it, before handing me our son.

"I delivered our son," he whispered, gazing at me in astonishment in present day.

"You did. And you were amazing," I smiled at him. "Oh, you panicked at first...almost fainted when I said he was coming and you'd have to help me. But, you'd been so supportive until then, keeping me calm and helping me through the pains. I knew you could it. And…we just got on with it."

"I can see it all," he muttered and then blushed. "I erm…probably shouldn't be seeing some of it," he confessed. "But…I can see me handing him to you, I remember it all so clearly now. It…it was perfect."

"It was," I agreed. "Not the birth we had planned, but somehow it was how it should be. Everyone got the surprise of their lives when they finally turned up and found me sitting on the sofa, cuddling our baby boy and drinking a cup of tea you'd made."

Ron laughed. "Wow…I can't believe I did that. Can't believe I'd forgotten it though." He muttered to himself and shook his head.

"Not to worry, it's all coming back now." I smiled at him.

He tickled Hugo. "I was the first person to ever see you buddy." He chuckled, making Hugo giggle and roll around the sofa. "I helped you into this world. " He gazed at me and we shared that special secret smile that parents share – amazed by the miracle of life together.

Our moment was interrupted with the sound of little sobs coming from the end of the sofa. Rose sat there, curled into a ball and buried her head in her arms. Her body was shaking with her little sobs.

"Rosie…what is it?" I asked, reaching for her.

She lifted her head, tears running down her cheeks as she glared at her father. "You don't like me!" She seethed, accusingly.

"Rosie, that's not true," I tried to stop her.

"You don't 'member me…you not 'member baby Rosie!" She pushed me away as she yelled at us. "You not my daddy!" she yelled at him. "And you hate me too!" She screamed whilst scrambling off the couch and running for the stairs.

"Rose!" I shouted her.

She ignored me and flung the living room door open.

Ron got up and chased after her, he grabbed her around the waist and sat down on the floor with her, where she screamed at him and struggled. "Shh, shh…Rosie," he whispered, trying to calm her. "It's okay Rosie," he murmured gently. But still she succeeded in scrambling out of his arms, though just stood there, sobbing. "Rosie," he spoke, getting up on his knees so he could look at her properly. She sniffed loudly. "Honey, that's not true. I could never hate you sweetheart. And…I know I'm your daddy, you wanna know how?" he asked her.

She pouted and shrugged her shoulders indifferently, gazing at her feet to avoid looking at him.

He continued anyway. "Because I know it, in here." He put his hand on his chest. "In my heart. I might not really remember you in my head yet. But I know that I love you. Just as I love Hugo. And I love your Mum," he added.

I gasped. My mouth literally fell open and I just stared at him with wide, hopeful eyes. "You…you…love…" I stammered.

"Erm, yeah," Ron mumbled, his face turning a bright shade of crimson as he lowered his eyes. "Well, I mean…I love all of you," he mumbled embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just, this strange sense I have. I don't remember everything yet, much of this is all so confusing to me, but I know we're connected. I know you're my family." He gave me a sheepish grin as he glanced up. "My head might not know you all yet, but...I feel it."

"See Rosie!" I smiled at our daughter, at the same time I was fighting back tears of utter joy. Those might have been the sweetest words I had ever heard my husband utter. "Daddy loves all of us." I grinned and hugged Hugo that little bit tighter until he grimaced and wriggled out of my arms.

Rose wasn't impressed either, she just sighed, glanced at the both of us and flounced off into the kitchen. But, at least she wasn't crying or running off anymore – I'd take that as a win, as my husband and I smirked at one another.

Feedback is loved by writers...:)

Next weeks chapter will be posted a little earlier as I'm away for the weekend :)