Footnotes

Entry #23: July 1st

The war is still threatening to get worse, but we've all done what we can to stay safe. At this point Emma was so pregnant she got put on bed rest and was due to burst at any second. Lily had been taking care of her when James, Remus or I couldn't and it made Emma a lot happier to have someone with her.

"How is my wifey today?" I asked as I sat down on the couch next to her after a long day. It had been nothing but trials today and I hated trails more than I hated Lucius.

"Your 'wifey' needs pain killers, and sooner would be better than later," She said. We looked at her, not sure what to do about it. I held her hand and looked her in the eyes and opened my mouth to say something when she cut me off.

"Relax it's nothing….I…." She stopped mid sentence and her eyes got wide and a sort of gasp escaped her mouth. We all waited, even more unsure of what to do than before. She placed a hand on her stomach and closed her eyes slowly.

"Emma…what is it?" She didn't answer my question. I looked at Lily for help but she shrugged her shoulders as confused as the rest of us were.

"Emma, tell me what is wrong."

"My water just broke," She grumbled. My turn for the look of horror now, but thankfully I wasn't the only one that freaked out. Floo powder was beginning to get to risky and wasn't about to apperate with Emma in labor. Lily was quick on her feet to owl Molly, Tonks and Remus and make James go get a bucket of hot water and lots of towels.

"Em, sweetie, I'm going to need you to relax alright? Everything is going to be just fine, you'll see. Molly is going to come and help us okay?" Lily said gently and holding her best friends hand. Just then Molly and Remus walked in. Molly had already had five kids and even had the twins with her, giving me one of them and the other one Remus had been holding when the two of them walked in the house. Lily was propping Emma up on pillows to make her more comfortable on the floor of our living room. We men were shoed from the living room and told to look after the twins who were only a few months old in the kitchen. I could hear the women talking and the occasional scream from Emma. James gave me a pat on the back as I tried my best to get Fred; or was it George, to calm down. We waited for hours, and the sounds that we heard gave us no idea as to what was going on. Occasionally Lily or Tonks would come into the kitchen to get something to eat or drink or help one of us with the twins. Eventually Arthur came by with his oldest boy Bill and took the kids home.

"How's she doing?" He asked bouncing one of his ginger children on his knee. James shrugged and I shook my head a little.

"Okay, I guess. I haven't really heard anything from the women they've been really busy," I replied.

"Well the first one always takes the longest. Once you get past that it's a breeze. Well of course, twins are always a complication but there are two instead of one…" Arthur reassured me. He bid us all farewell and we told him we'd see him soon at work. As soon as he left there was a huge commotion from the living room. We heard sighs and the cry of a baby. It had only been 30 hours but finally our first child had arrived. We ran into the kitchen as Molly and Lily were cleaning off the baby. Tonks was covering Emma up and forcing her to drink some water. I sat by her side as Remus and James stood by Lily and Molly who were wrapping a little pink bundle.

"Hi beautiful, how are you feeling, is there anything I can get you?" I asked kissing my exhausted looking wife. Molly handed Emma the baby and I stared at her shocked.

"Oh my god, she's gorgeous… how did we make something precious?" I asked as the baby cooed in her arms. Emma smiled at me.

"What should we name her?" Emma asked as she handed my baby girl to me so I could hold her for the first time.

"Kat," I said. "Katarina Evelyn Black." Emma nodded gazing at our daughter a wide smile on her face. Our friends and family surrounded us smiles on their faces as well.

"Hey Kat, welcome to the family."