One of my reviewers pointed out that in the last chapter I had said that Lily's due date was October 4th. That was supposed to be August 4th. It's October and my brain is all over the place, so just know that's what I meant. I'm not having Harry be three months premature, because then the timeline for this whole story would be waaaaaay out of whack.
Anyways, sorry for the confusion. Here is the last chapter. All that is left are the epilogues [and yes, it is plural].
Enjoy!

Guess what I found out on July 31st at approximately three in the morning?

Labor hurts. Like, a lot.

I know what you're going to say – Of course it hurts, didn't anyone tell you anything about giving birth – but I didn't know it would hurt quite this much.

I told James that if we have any more kids, he can give birth to the next watermelon, because I sure as hell won't. I don't know if he heard the last part - I think all that he processed was the fact that we might have more kids. Sometimes I wonder why I say anything to him.

After I go into labor in my room at home, James Floos me to St Mungo's and it is just chaos from there. I thought it was busy when I was admitted for Braxton Hicks, but this time there are even more Healers and more magical machinery around me.

You'd think I was giving birth to the savior of the Wizarding world or something.

James isn't allowed in until they get me situated, and then finally it's just the two of us and two Healers. Apparently all the other Healers were there just for dramatic purposes, just to work me up.

The first few contractions aren't so bad really. They feel kind of like the false labor I had, but there is more pressure in my stomach with these than there was before.

After about two hours of labor, and nothing really happening, the contractions start to become more than slightly uncomfortable. Not excruciating yet, but still painful enough.

And I had hoped he would want to come out quickly. Apparently not – he seems to be just as stubborn as James and I. I feel sorry for whoever marries him if he's as stubborn as us.

James is there, holding my hand and trying to make me feel better. He even tried telling a joke when I was having a contraction once. It was a funny joke, but have you ever laughed when you're in labor? It's…interesting, to say the least. After that, he stopped.

But he would just talk to me. I think I learned more about James during my long and painful labor than I had during the entire time we were living together. And it really helped distract me, keep me from focusing on the contractions that were running through my body with increased frequency.

At about two in the morning, a Healer comes in and taps James on the shoulder.

"There is someone in the waiting room who would like to see you," she says softly, but James just shakes his head and turns back to me. Shrugging, the Healer leaves.

Another contraction comes and I squeeze James's hand tightly. He may want to get it looked at afterwards.

"Prongs," we hear from the door, just as my contraction ends. Both of us look over to see Sirius standing there anxiously. "How is everything?"

Before James can answer, I yell, "It hurts! And I'm going to kill your best friend because this is his fault! Then when I'm done with him I might kill you too, because it was at your stupid party that I got drunk and slept with him and so all of you Marauders are so freaking dead when I can walk again and OW!"

I think both James and Sirius were glad the next contraction came along and shut me up. I don't think I've ever seen Sirius run that fast. I can be kind of scary, but I guess I look and sound even scarier when I'm in labor.

"I was thinking," James says cautiously after the contraction passes, "we should ask Sirius to be the baby's godfather."

Before I can answer that, the Healer comes back in and checks…things and informs me that I can start pushing now. She says that in less than an hour we should have our baby, and my torture will be over.

Well, she didn't say that last part, but that's what I was thinking.

I didn't think anything could hurt more than those damn contractions, but let me tell you – pushing is worse than any torture I can think of. I'll bet it's worse than the Cruciatus.

Almost an hour of pushing, and here he is.

And let me tell you, I didn't know that it was possible to become this attached to something or someone this fast. Instantly, this baby has my heart, more than any other human being ever has. I can't stop staring at him once they've cleaned him off and handed him back to James and me.

He looks just like James too – not even two hours old and he's got a head full of messy black hair, just like his father.

And then he opens his eyes, and I swear James starts crying.

He has my eyes, my bright green ones, and anyone who knows James knows that that is one of his favorite things about me.

Sirius pokes his head back into the room, and seeing us with the baby, deems it safe to actually enter the room. Following him are Claudia, Remus, and Peter. They all crowd around us and stare at our son. He is pretty adorable. But maybe I'm biased. Just maybe.

We're all silent for about twenty minutes, looking at him as he stares at us, when finally Sirius breaks the silence.

"Man, that is one adorably hairy kid."

Everyone turns to stare at him. He shrugs and adds, "What? I said he was adorable!"

We all swivel our heads back to look at the baby, and he rewards us with a smile. His first smile. And because my hormones are still all over the place, it makes me cry. Actually, it honestly makes me bawl like I'm the newborn baby. And he just lies in my arms and watches me, looking adorably bewildered.

There's a bark-like laugh from behind all of us, and once again we turn to look at Sirius

"I was just thinking," he says, "you should name him Harry. Simply because he came out with a full head of hair, just like James has. Plus, he kind of looks like a Harry, don't you think?"

All of us look at the baby again. It's like being at a Muggle tennis match, the way our heads are bouncing back and forth.

And surprisingly, Sirius is right – he does look like a Harry. Next to me, James nods and smiles and I know he's thinking the same thing as me. Well, almost the same thing.

"Harry Potter," he says softly.

"Harry James Potter," I correct him, and this time everyone is looking at me. I just keep staring at my son.

"Guys, can you give me and Lily and Harry a minute?"

Slowly everyone leaves, patting James on the back and waving bye to Harry and I. Then it's just the three of us again. I'm staring at Harry and James is staring at me.

"You want to name him after me?"

Slowly, I look at him. I'm not sure what I'm expecting to see, but his face still surprises me. He looks so highly emotional, and so utterly happy, that my heart freezes for two seconds. Nobody has ever looked at me like that, like I've made their world a thousand times better.

I open my mouth to answer his question but, yet again, something happens to the words on their way from my brain to my mouth. Instead of a simple 'yes' or 'of course' what comes out is

"I love you."

Wow. Where did that come from?

From the look on his face, James is wondering the same thing, although I doubt he's displeased in any way, shape, or form.

Or since he closes his eyes and opens them again with a pained look on his face, maybe he is.

"If that was just your whacked out hormones talking right now, please tell me, and we can move past it."

Before I can answer that, the Healer comes back in. What is it with these people and their serious lack of timing? Every time James and I are about to have some deep, meaningful, relationship altering conversation, here comes a Healer!

Maybe we should just pick a better place to have these conversations. That might help.

"Have we decided on a name?" she asks cheerfully. Aside from their crappy timing, they are all freakishly cheerful all the time. I don't think I was that happy when I worked here.

"Harry James Potter," I tell her, knowing that somewhere in the hospital a magical quill is writing it down. Hopefully, so is the quill at Hogwarts.

"Well," she says in that same aggravatingly cheerful voice, "if the two of you don't mind, I'm going to take little Mr Potter here and have him washed up some more. I'll bring him back in about fifteen minutes so that he can sleep in his own little bed right next to you."

And she takes our son and leaves. I'm telling you, I'm about to cry like a little baby again. I miss him already. She better bring him back really fast!

"Lily."

Shit. James is still here.

"Yes?"

"About what you said earlier…"

Sometimes I really wish his memory was really, really bad. As in, he forgot things after about five minutes. Does that make me a bad person?

I sigh and rub my eyes. I'm really tired, and now is really not the time to have this kind of massive conversation. But I know that there is no other time – now that the baby is here, James and I won't be able to just sit and talk like we used to. We have Harry and he's now our number one priority.

James pushes some hair back from my face gently. "If you want to talk about it after you've gotten some rest, then that's fine. Maybe you will be in a clearer state of mind then."

Surprisingly, my mind is perfectly clear right now. I don't know how, considering the insanity that I have been through in such a short time, but I've never been more certain about anything.

I reach up and place a gentle kiss on his lips, then lay back against my pillows again.

"I meant it James. I love you. This isn't hormones, this isn't just because I have a baby with you now. Admittedly, it probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten pregnant, but I'm so glad that it did. We have a beautiful son, and I love you. I don't know when it happened, but it did." I don't know what else I can say after that, so I just look at him. Through the entire speech I kept eye contact with him, trying to get him to understand.

He leans forward and kisses me again, threading some of his fingers through my hair.

"I love you too," he whispers, his breath fanning across my face. "I always have, really. In school, even when you got on my nerves, I was so head over heels for you that I couldn't think straight sometimes. And part of me can't help but wish that this had all happened normally – we fell in love, then got married, then had a baby. But the bigger part of me doesn't give a damn about how it happened, just that it did. And all I have to say is…I told you so."

I can't help but laugh at that, because he did tell me. Starting in third year, all I ever heard about was how he and I were meant to be together and eventually I would see it. And I also wish that maybe it would have happened sort of normally, but I think this way is perfect for us. This is normal for us.

The Healer brings Harry back in, wheeling him in a small plastic crib. Gently, she lifts him out and hands him to me, then leaves the three of us alone.

James and I just sit there and stare at him for I don't know how long. He's so beautiful, just laying there peacefully looking at us. Eventually he falls asleep, and then he gets cuter. Don't worry, I didn't know it was possible either.

Finally I decide I should get some sleep as well, and James carefully places Harry back in his crib, then sits on the bed next to me and places his arm around me. He presses a soft kiss to my temple.

"Marry me."

That time, it was him that said the crazy thing. It's a nice change, not always being the one blurting things out.

But looking at him, I don't think he just spontaneously blurted it out. I think he's been thinking about it for awhile, and he looks sure of himself. He's perfectly calm, like he knows that it doesn't matter what my answer is because eventually we will get married, and maybe even have more kids.

So that's what makes me give him my crazy answer.

"Okay."

And there you have it! All that is left are the epilogues and hopefully the first one will be up within a few days, but my second round of midterms are starting, so no promises! Also, later today the next chapter of Of Flowers and Men should FINALLY be posted. Sorry for the delay on that one.
As always, please review!