Imani was our Princess and she knew she had us wrapped around her little finger. It was so hard to stand our ground when we had two perfect, brown eyes staring into our faces with a quivering, little lip poked out.
"One more story, and then that's it. Do you hear me?"
"Thank you, Daddy!"
"Yeah yeah." I took a seat in the rocking chair that we decided to leave in her room, even though she was 4 now. Blaise pulled out some wizarding children's book that had been his when he was a child. I snuggled further into the comfy rocking chair and closed my eyes as Blaise's velvety baritone voice filled the room.
I was awoken by a gentle brush of the lips on my forehead.
"You were out before I even finished the first two pages." He chuckled. "That's a shame. A four-year-old can stay up later than you can."
"Hush. She's the reason I'm so damn tired."
"Mr. Thomas-Zabini! Language."
"She's asleep. She didn't hear me."
"And your mom thinks that I'm gonna corrupt her."
"Make yourself useful and help me up." Blaise pulled me up from my comfortable position on the chair. I kissed my daughter's cheek and Blaise did the same and we left the door open a crack.
We blindly made it to our room at the other end of the hall, stumbling over various toys and little pairs of shoes. I should definitely clean up tomorrow, if I don't do anything else. I promptly hopped into the shower, erasing the stress of the day. I always enjoyed the time that I spent under the warm spray. Once you have a kid you take these things for granted.
I stepped out of the shower; the cold air was a nice contrast to the drastic heat. I stepped into the bedroom in my towel.
"You can't possibly expect me to just go to sleep after you come in here in just your towel." Damn, my man insatiable. His eyes followed me all around the room. He popped up from the bed and gently pushed me against the dresser.
"What are you doing? Our daughter is right down the hall." Blaise nipped at the skin on my neck. He pulled the towel off of the lower half my body and I struggled to pull it back up.
"C'mon, Love. She's out like a light." He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. My breath hitched in my throat as his hands slid down my waist and onto my ass; his large hands fully encompassing each of the globes. Our dresser only comes up to about my waist. Blaise brushed off the clutter that lay on top of the surface.
"Blaise…" I hissed as he sucked on my Adam's apple.
"It's been way too long. Just let me take care of you, okay, Love?" I was speechless. He knew how to get me to comply to his will. Fuck, Blaise was an excellent lover!
He opened the top drawer and pulled out the lube we kept there. Blaise was quick to prepare me for his beautiful member.
I drizzled lube onto his dick and wrapped my legs around his hips. He thrust deep into me and I gripped onto his shoulders and held on for dear life. I saw the animalistic glint in Blaise's eyes and I knew he was going to be hard and fast.
"You look so good baby. All sweaty and shit!" I frantically pulled him into a kiss as he continued to pound into me. He lifted my leg onto his shoulder for better leverage and continued his eerily accurate thrusts.
"Baby…I'm-I-I'm …."
Just then the door to our room was pushed open and Imani was standing there, her eyes wide open.
"What are you doing?" Blaise quickly pulled out of me and awkwardly held the towel in front to both of us.
"Get your daughter!" I hissed
"Oh so she's my daughter when you don't get-"
"If you finish that sentence…"
Early in the evening of the 2nd week of my eight month of pregnancy, I began to feel some discomfort. I shook it off because lately my little one had been extremely active.
I got out of my bed and walked around the room to try and alleviate the pain and pressure. I was hit by a particularly vicious pain and was brought to my knees.
Eve heard the thump I made and instantly opened the door to my room.
"Dean! What's the matter?"
"I don't know, just get mum." My voice was strained from the immense pain that I was feeling. I had never seen my sister move so fast in my life. Before I knew it, my mother was on the floor in front of me, her cool hands on my overheated face.
"What's going on? What are you feeling?"
"It HURTS!"
"What hurts, specifically?"
"EVERYTHING!" and then after another 10 minutes or so, the pain subsided. My mother helped me back into my bed and instructed Eve to get me water.
"Dean, when you were doing the research on this whole pregnancy thing…How is the child supposed to be delivered?"
"I have to…You're gonna have to…cut it out of me, but it's too early! My baby's not ready yet!"
"DEAN STEVEN THOMAS! Why are you just telling me this now! Your baby is coming today."
"Mum-"
"NO! This is dangerous! I can't do this! We gotta get you to the hospital!"
"So they can call me a freak! Put me in some weird medical journal? Do some strange tests on me? Is that what you want? No one outside of this house can know about this! If they find out I'm a wizard, they'll kill me."
"No one's gonna kill you."
"YES! They will. They'll erase your memory of ever having a son and everyone around that knows I exist and then they'll take me and kill me." There was silence in my room for a long time. My mother's eyes held a panicked look.
"Well, I guess we're gonna have to do this, huh." I nodded; tear began to form in my eyes. I knew what this meant. There was a large percent chance that I wouldn't survive, either that or my baby.
"Mum…if you have to choose…Pick the baby."
"Dean, no. No I will not!"
"Mum."
"Dean. I can't."
"Mum. Please."
"Dean, your child won't have either of its parents."
"Mum…I know that if Blaise sees his child, he'll do the right thing."
"You're being naïve, Dean! You're my baby and I will do whatever it takes to see both of you through this."
Over the next four hours, I stayed in a constant state of varying degrees of pain. Tears and sweat streaked my face. My mother and Eve stayed close beside me, only moving to get ice or another bucket of water.
Then something went terribly wrong. A searing pain went through my body. I instantly became dizzy and I could hardly breathe. My mother screamed my name.
"Eve, go downstairs and get me the knife with the thinnest blade and some matches and alcohol."
"What? Mama, we can't!"
"We've gotta deliver this baby!"
BLAISE'S POV
I had been given an assignment. One that involved me is transferring information from Hogwarts to Bellatrix. Voldemort wasn't stupid. He knew that there were spies that claimed they were loyal to the dark lord. They weren't. I proved my loyalty. I had done my part.
It was the night of the battle. Lord Voldemort sent in the expendable followers. Because I infiltrated his inner circle, I waited with Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix. We had one more mission to complete that would ensure the victory to Voldemort.
It was strange. My ring finger was burning. It started off as a dull, numbing pain, which progressed into an almost debilitating pain. I even considered cutting off the finger.
"What on earth is wrong with you?"
"I think I got hit with a hex of some sort."
"What's wrong?"
"I want to chop off my finger! It hurts like hell!" And then it registered that Dean had given me that ring a month after the first time we slept together. I hadn't worn it since the last time I saw him, but I knew that he had done something to it. I tried to ignore the pain and then it spread to my whole hand. I couldn't focus on anything. The pain had taken over my whole arm.
I knew I would be in serious trouble if I left, but I had to go.
I thought back to the 8 months ago when I had last spoken to the man I thought I could love. He left Hogwarts, so where in the world would he go? He would probably go to his grandmother…no, she lived in America. His OWN home! He was really close to his mother! Dean would probably be with his mother.
I edged to a secluded area of the forest and apparated to the backyard of Dean's home.
I pushed open the door with the arm that wasn't throbbing.
"Dean!" I hollered throughout the expanse of the house.
"Who's there?" A woman's voice responded?"
"Blaise Zabini, Ma'am." A teenaged girl came down the stairs in such a fast pace, I had no time to brace myself for the slap that came across my face."
"How could you leave him!" the girl screamed in my face
"What are you talking about?"
"He's gonna die. He's having the baby NOW!" My heart dropped.
"I thought he terminated the pregnancy."
"If you knew Dean as well as he said you did, you would've known that he would never do something like that."
"Take me to him. I can help."
"Why should I? You don't love him anyway. Matter of fact get out of this house!"
"I can't do that! Without me, you and I both know he'll die." She looked truly torn. I knew if she had the opportunity she would stab me. She grabbed my good arm, which I was thankful for and dragged me up the stairs and into a modern looking room. My breath caught in my throat as I saw Dean convulsing on the bed. He was unconscious, but the tear tracks were prominent on his face.
Mrs. Thomas had tears in her eyes as she was cleaning a knife with alcohol.
"Mrs. Thomas, let me." The woman stared at me and hiccupped.
"Blaise?" She sobbed.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Thomas. I love him and I want to help him." Mrs. Thomas sat up by her son's head and motioned for me to come closer. As soon as my fingertips touched Dean's the pain in him arm was instantly gone.
I gripped my wand tightly in my hand. I knew that an incision from the wand would be much cleaner than from any knife.
"I need you to leave please. I'm so sorry."
"I can't do that! I have to be with him!"
"Dean and I could both get in a lot of trouble if you stay."
"Blaise, you can't just come up in my house and expect me to leave my son!"
"We're wasting precious time. Our baby is in distress! I have a chance to save them both, but I need to act fast and I need to act now!" eve, who was still standing in the doorway, directed her mother gently from the room. Leah Thomas was reluctant to go, all she wanted was to take her baby's pain away.
Once the only two people in the room were Dean and me, I rolled my sleeves up and poured alcohol onto my hands and rubbed them together. I placed the tip of my wand onto the lower part of Dean's baby bump. He was completely unresponsive.
I whispered the spell under my breath and watched the beam of light create an incision. Blood spilled out everywhere. There was a continuous flow of the red liquid and I willed myself to not get queasy. I figured the best way to ensure that Dean and our baby stayed alive was to get the child as quick as possible and then place a healing charm on Dean. I placed my hands inside of my lover. It felt like an out of body experience. The gore was almost too much for me to handle. I felt around for the child and got a good grip on the baby and pulled it out of Dean's womb. I took the sterilized knife and cut the umbilical cord that connected child to father.
I gently placed the baby on towels beside the still unconscious Dean. I quickly muttered a healing spell and watched as the skin around Dean's stomach healed itself. I picked the baby back up and tied to discern a pulse. I noticed that the baby was a girl and I fought back tears as I stared at my beautiful daughter. I felt the faint murmur of her heart beat. She was in distress from the events of the day, but she was going to make it.
I quickly assessed Dean. His pulse was barely there. I almost choked on tears as I pulled Dean to me His breathing was shallow and I truly thought that he wasn't going to survive.
I stepped into the hall where his sister and mother were still waiting. I nodded to them and they jumped up from their spots on the floor. Leah immediately rushed to the bloodied baby and began to wash her. Eve held onto her brother's hand. No one wanted to say a word. We all waited and watched. Each of us knew there was nothing more we could do for him. There was a 50 percent chance that he could live, which meant there was also a 50 percent chance that he could die.
Dean's present POV
After explaining that it wasn't polite to come into rooms without knocking and also explaining that daddy was just helpingpapa dry off after his bath time.
The four-year old bought our excuse and then hopped into our bed like she tended to do these days. Blaise and I made sure we were covered from the neck down. Imani snuggled up under her daddy's chin and I kissed the top of her head.
"Night Night Papa. Night Night Daddy." She yawned.
"Thank you." Blaise whispered in the darkness.
"For what?" I yawned like Imani had only minutes earlier
"For my little girl." Whenever Blaise got sentimental it took my breath away.
"You're welcome." I whispered back to him.
.