A/N: Haha… someone PM'ed me and said something along the line about 'word vomit', I have shitty spelling skills and grammar. Apparently s/he assumed I care. (laughs) I'll admit, the grammar sometimes leaves a little something to be desired, but honestly what do you expect? I have a busy life and I don't use a beta. Thank you all who have read and review. We are racing closer and closer to 400 reviews. I wonder who will be number 400! Enjoy the chapter (short but powerful). Oh, and it's mostly from Scorpius' POV. OOHHH! 10 to 400!

Disc.: By now, you know the drill.

Happenstance

Lily frowned when she saw that her small package had been sent back, not even opened. In Scorpius' hand writing, in crimson colored marker, almost as if etched into the package, he had written: Return to Sender. Lily sighed, tossing the rest of her mail on the table. She turned the package over, her hand hesitating, hovering over the flap. She wondered if Scorpius had hesitated, trying to decide if he would open it or not before he decided not to. Lily frowned and pulled the tab, opening the package. She threw the padded envelop in the wastebasket. She had been trying to give him this package since the night after the ultrasound. Several roughed up owls later and a muggle mail 'Return to Sender', it was back in her hands unopened.

She held the plain white wooden frame in her hand, gazing lovingly down at the perfect black and white profile of Bean. Bean kicked her hard and Lily patted her rounding stomach. It was Christmas Eve, and she had hoped, prayed, that Scorpius and she could have resolved whatever issues they had. She sighed, placing the framed ultrasound on the futon next to her as she sat down, propping her feet up on the table.

"I guess he's back from Argentina, now," Lily said aloud to no one in particular. Bean danced against her. She smiled absentmindedly rubbing her belly.

Lily glanced at the closet door where she had hanging her dress for the ball that next evening. It was an all black dress. She wasn't intending on hiding her stomach, but she didn't feel the need to advertise she was having a baby either. The dress was beautiful on her; the v-neck accentuated one of the other perks of pregnancy. Lily, for the first time ever, felt like she had a great set of breasts. Whereas before she had always been a bit disappointed that they weren't bigger, she finally had the size she always wanted. Lily wasn't naïve to think that her breast would hang around forever after Bean was born, but she was determined to show it off while she could.

Lily closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about the jewelry she had chosen to wear with the dress. Originally, she had thought about pulling her locket out of her jewelry box. She couldn't remember when she had stopped wearing it; she just remembered taking it off one morning, after having cried all night long, and dropping it into her jewelry box. What had felt appropriate and right when she was thirteen no longer felt appropriate and right to her. Seven years was a long time, and it had been seven years since Scorpius gave her that locket.

So much had changed.

Lily had settled on wearing the birthday gift Marshall had given her. It was a silver chain, delicate and ornate looking, with an oval pendant of black onyx, banded with red. It was set in silver, surrounded by small, dark red garnets, and had matching earrings in a smaller scale. Lily had a silver bracelet that she would pair with the jewelry Marshall gave her that had been her mothers. It would be simple and stated, but Lily knew it would be beautiful.

"Damn it," Lily growled as she hoisted herself up off the futon and headed to the bathroom for the millionth and third time that day. She wasn't waddling yet, but she felt big. She wasn't gone long before she was crossing the living room. She checked her watch, knowing Rose was still at work. Lily picked up the picture and stuck it in her purse. She regretted not having a fire place and chose to hike it to the ministry on foot. Half way there, she apologized to Bean and apparated to the apparation point.

"Sorry, Bean, sorry," Lily cooed sweetly to her stomach as she rubbed her belly. Bean kicked her angrily for the squeezing feeling.

She headed into the ministry, taking the lift up to the Department of Auror Affairs. She paused outside the door, wondering what the hell she was doing there. She blushed slightly, wondering if she was hoping to run into Scorpius there. She blushed harder and forced the thought from her head. The last thing she needed at the moment was to think about the fact that she still carried a flame for the father of her child, despite his desire to have nothing to do with her or their child.

Lily pushed the door open, Rose sitting at her desk. She was bent over and didn't look up from her papers until Lily cleared her throat slightly. Rose looked up, grinning and unable to hide her surprise. She stood and hugged her cousin.

"You're getting so big," Lily commented as Rose's stomach crashed against her own. Rose's eclipsed Lily's greatly, though Rose was coming to a close with her pregnancy. Six more weeks and Rose would be a mother. It was flying by so quickly. Even Lily thought so.

"Don't call the pot fat, kettle," Rose teased. Lily had to admit, her belly was getting rather round, too. "So, what brings you all the way to the D.A.A.?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Lily lied.

"Please, take a seat," Rose said as she gestured to a chair. "Lord knows I can't stand too long without it becoming an issue."

"Thank you," Lily said as she sat in the chair. "Are you excited about your baby shower?"

"You bet," Rose said grinning. "I still think that a baby shower slash New Year's Eve party is a stretch, but Billy's hoping that Tabby makes her appearance by then."

"It'd be funny if you gave birth on New Years," Lily said laughing. Rose laughed but shook her head.

"I don't have the nursery finished," Rose said. She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder why I am working right up until my due date."

"I don't know either," Lily said. "You don't really need to."

"Neither do you, but you know you will," Rose said.

"You get a year off, not me," Lily teased. "I have to save every precious moment I can."

"Too true," Rose said as the two slipped into a comfortable silence.

"You know, I don't think I've been here since I was a kid," Lily said as she looked around.

"Do you want a tour? This place is deader than dead," Rose said as she stood. Lily shrugged and stood. The two women walked around, cubicles everywhere. Lily barely glanced at anyone's cubicle, each one vaguely representative to its owner. Lily had her hand in her purse, her fingers twitched against the wooden frame as Rose gestured to Scorpius' desk.

"Oh, crap, the phone," Rose grumbled as she heard the distant ringing. "I'll be right back."

"Ok," Lily said as she stared at Scorpius' desk. Rose waddled off, Lily giggling at the sight before she looked back at his desk. It wasn't insanely neat, but not nearly as bad as Albus' desk. Scorpius had an empty cup of coffee on his desk, a few files resting against some book. Lily glanced at it and bit her bottom lip. It was her copy of Tom Sawyer she had lost what seemed like a life time ago. She couldn't have been older than twelve, maybe thirteen. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen it.

Lily sat down in his chair, the old leather seemed to emit his scent and warmth and Lily closed her eyes, breathing him in deeply. She felt the twisting, painful yearning in her heart. Lily could picture him here, hunched over files late at night. She pulled the framed ultrasound from her purse, hiding it under one of the files he had on his desk. She knew he'd find it eventually and this time, not be able to send it back, at least not without great effort. She laughed at the thought of Scorpius roughing up the owls that had originally tried to deliver the package before she resorted to muggle mail.

Curiously, absentmindedly, she opened one of his desk drawers. There were random sundries, nothing of noteworthiness. She closed the top drawer and opened the middle drawer, above his file drawer. She froze, unable to move. Inside the drawer was a framed photo of the two of them, taken shortly before she found out that she was pregnant. Scorpius had his arms around her, both of them were grinning madly. Like they were in love. Lily laughed quietly at the thought. She was madly in love with him, but yet this seemed like such a distant memory. She placed the picture back in the drawer, wiping away the tears that she didn't feel but she knew they were there. Sighing, she closed the drawer and headed towards the sound of Rose's voice.

"Mr. Zabini's ticket was booked three weeks ago," Rose was saying as Lily took a seat. Rose looked annoyed as she flipped through a book. "No, Mr. Zabini isn't flying out tonight; he will be flying out on December 28th."

Lily toyed with Rose's paperclips, not paying attention to her cousin. She was in the process of making a paperclip necklace when the door opened. Lily reflexively looked up and her heart slammed to a halt. It seized, the pain was crushing but in an oddly good way as her eyes met his. She took a shuddering breath, telling herself to breath for Bean's sake if not her own. She couldn't force a smile, she was frozen. Scorpius looked as shocked as Lily to stand there, his eyes on hers.

"Lily," Scorpius said finding his voice finally. He struggled for a moment, unable to think of any other words.

"Hello Scorpius," Lily said quietly. He hadn't expected her voice to sound so mature. It hadn't been all that long since the last time they talked, but he remember the last time they had talked, she had been crying, yelling.

"You look well," he said. Lily let out a sigh and nodded once.

"Thanks," she replied. Scorpius fidgeted slightly with his cell phone; half wishing that someone would call and save him from this, and half hoping that nothing would break this moment.

"Look. I said Mr. Zabini will flying out on the twenty eight. Zabini, Z-a-b-i-n-i!" Rose spelled slowly into the phone.

"Sounds like someone's trying to give Rose a hard time," Scorpius said chuckling. Lily glanced away, her eyes landing on Rose for a moment before she returned them to Scorpius. He frowned slightly, unhappy with the way his body seemed to want to betray him. The twisting, aching feeling in his chest caught him off guard. He had been pretty certain he had locked away those feelings.

"Yeah, well," Lily said flippantly. "Rose always gets what she wants."

"It's good that somebody does," Scorpius said under his breath almost bitterly.

"Huh?" Lily said, not having caught that. Scorpius shook his head.

"Are you going to the Ball tomorrow? Flint's hosting it," Scorpius said casually. Lily grinned and it nearly took his breath away. He had forgotten how much it affected him.

"I had the hardest time finding the right dress, but I believe I did," Lily said almost triumphantly. "What about you? Are you going?"

"I've not decided, to be honest," Scorpius said as he finally released the door. He hadn't been aware that he had been gripping it so tightly. His hand ached, but it was nothing to the pain that seemed to burning a hole into his chest from the inside out.

"You should come," Lily said hopefully, almost too hopefully. Scorpius grinned as heat rose to her face. "It just makes sense, all of us Slytherins getting together once a year to catch up."

"Are you going with anyone?" Scorpius asked curiously. Lily laughed and shook her head.

"No," Lily said. "I asked Marshall if he'd mind but the poor guy has to work."

"Oh, so… you and Marshall?" Scorpius said uncertainly. He felt a little queasy, his stomach twisting in anticipation of the answer.

"We're still just friends, Score," Lily laughed. Scorpius pupils dilated slightly and he was sure he was going to die. He hadn't expected her to call him 'Score', not since things ended so badly nearly three months prior. He watched her bite her lips slightly as her purse rang, her hand routing around in the oversized bag. He couldn't believe how much he seemed pulled to her, like two magnet attracted to each other beyond all reason.

"I… have work to do," Scorpius said suddenly. "Good seeing you again, Lily."

"You too," Lily said almost hesitantly. Scorpius couldn't stand there and look at her, Lily sitting there so pretty beside Rose's desk, her giant purse in her lap while she searched for her phone. It was too much like torture. He resisted the urge to sprint down the hall to his cubicle, instead taking his time as he listened carefully to Rose's voice, waiting for the minute she got off the phone. He ached to hear Lily's voice again. He missed her; he had been missing her since that first night.

Still, he couldn't get passed what she did.

Scorpius went to his desk, dropping his case beside it. He collapsed into the chair, vaguely aware that he could smell her all around him. It did nothing for his sanity and he dug his thumbs into his eyes, trying to press out the image of Lily biting her lip. That was what sent him over the edge, that worried, vulnerable look. It made him want to snatch her up in his arms and protect her. He grumbled at himself, berating himself for still feeling that way. The phone rang next to him, startling him.

"Malfoy," Scorpius barked into the phone, almost wishing that he had been allowed a few more perfectly torturous moments thinking about Lily.

"Hey, man, it's me," Damon said on the other end.

"Hey, what's up?" Scorpius said as he settled back in his chair a minute.

"I ran into your grandmother today and she wanted me to tell you that you'd better attend the ball tomorrow night," Damon said.

"You don't need to tell me," Scorpius promised. "She knows my number."

"Yeah, but apparently you've been avoiding her calls," Damon said as Scorpius began rearranging his files.

"I've been in Argentina, dealing with the Argentinean Vampire population explosion down there," Scorpius grumbled as he opened the drawer where Lily and his picture was hidden. He sighed.

"You're looking at her picture again, aren't you? I wish you'd not do that when we were on the phone together," Damon teased.

"Oh, shut it," Scorpius laughed. "It's a little different."

"How so?" Damon asked. Scorpius sighed.

"She was here," Scorpius said. "Visiting Rose."

"Oh, wow," Damon said.

"Yeah," Scorpius said.

"How was it? Seeing her again, I mean," Damon asked in quiet awe.

"It was a lot like hell and heaven, mixed together," Scorpius said. "A blissful sort of torture."

"Is she going tomorrow?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," Scorpius admitted as he put the picture back in the drawer. He picked up the file, looking at the white wood framed ultrasound picture that it was covering.

"I think it's a sign that you should go tomorrow night," Damon said. Scorpius picked up the picture, his eyes blurring slightly. "Scorpius? You still there, man?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said quietly.

"What's wrong?" Damon asked concerned. Scorpius coughed slightly, clearing his tear thickened throat.

"I think… I think Lily's trying to drive me to kill myself," Scorpius breathed. "She, or I assume it was she, who else could it be, left a framed picture of my baby's ultrasound."

"Where? On your desk?" Damon asked.

"Yeah," Scorpius said. He felt a burning deep inside, though this time it was anger and not desire. "I need to go."

"See you soon, I'm up the street," Damon said as Scorpius slammed the phone back in its cradle. He stormed back up from, wielding the framed ultrasound in his hand as if he could use it as a weapon, like it was being used against him.

"Where the hell is your bitch of a cousin?" Scorpius spat at Rose. Rose looked up at him in surprise.

"W-what? Lily?" Rose asked in utter confusion.

"Who else would I be talking about?" Scorpius asked furiously.

"She left, went home," Rose said. Scorpius slammed the framed down on Rose's desk.

"You can tell her that torture can be two way," Scorpius said. His words dripped with venom. "What's her address, Rose?"

"I'm not giving it to you," Rose said forcibly as she stood, not keen with Scorpius looming over her in a position of authority.

"Why not? She's allowed to come up in my place of work with her tools of torture," Scorpius accused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose said.

"Sure," Scorpius said. He jabbed his finger toward the photo. "Maybe you and your cousin think it's funny to flaunt the picture of my poor baby, but I don't. You both can fuck yourselves for all I care."

"I… what?" Rose screeched at him. It was too late. Scorpius had snatched the photo back and stormed back to his desk. He shoved the frame into his bag and stormed out before Rose called James. James had been itching to fight Scorpius, it had been clear for months that the boys were at odds. Both were just itching for a reason, ever since Lily and Scorpius broke up.

Scorpius apparated to his grandmother's house, not keen on going back to his apartment, especially knowing full well that James would come after him once Rose told James about the outburst. Scorpius barely looked at his grandmother, just sprinted up the stairs two at a time and headed to his old room. He threw the bag on the chair, the flap flipping open just enough to show the edge of the frame. He loosened his tie, pulling it free from his neck and tossing it to the floor in anger.

He hadn't been that angry, that out of control since that night he confronted Lily about the baby. Since then, he had always kept his emotions in check. He had stayed in control. Give it to Lily to break his resolve to not let this decision she made affect him. He laughed bitterly. Who was he fooling? It affected him. He had loved Lily with all his heart. He was willing to lie down and die for her, should she command it. And then… she… broke his heart into a million little pieces.

It had been an accident that he even found out about the baby the way he did. He rationalized in the early days that she said that she was going to tell him that night. Scorpius could feel a hot, offensive tear escape his eye, tickling his cheek as it raced to his jaw line. Even the memory, three months old, burned. He hadn't seen Lily and wanted to surprise her by being there when she returned. He had let himself into her apartment.

As if yesterday, the memories came rushing back to him burning as freshly as new wounds.

He had tossed his keys up on the table that she had by the front door and they had caught the edge and pulled a few items down into the waste basket as the keys fell in. Scorpius had shrugged, reaching in to retrieve the items. He glanced in as he grabbed his keys to see the used pregnancy test. His hands shook uncontrollably as he looked at it. It was blatantly positive. If the test wasn't enough, he saw the ultrasound pictures below his keys. He looked at them with wide-eyed wonder as he gripped the table for support. He picked them up to look at them more carefully, his perfectly formed baby staring back at him from the grainy black and white photos. A few pages of poorly balled up paper were beside it, but one word jumped out at him and he dropped the ultrasound pictures, unfolding the papers and reading about Lily's appointment notes for some muggle clinic.

His baby. His girlfriend. That clinic.

Scorpius remembered looking up at the calendar mounted on the refrigerator. Her appointment at the clinic had passed while he was out of town for work. He felt sick, rushing to the spare bathroom. He willed death to ease the horror and pain, but nothing happened. He just stared at his already pale complexion go even paler and felt his insides go ice cold. Instead, he gathered everything up and placed it on the kitchen table. He vaguely filled an envelope with cash, setting it there among the evidence of Lily's crime. He was hurting and he wanted to hurt her, but he knew she'd never hurt as much as he did.

After all, Lily never wanted to be a mother.

Scorpius had always wanted to be a father.

Lily had looked horrified that he already knew, horrified by his reaction. He loved Lily, but her actions were unforgiveable. This wasn't something minor that could be swept under the rug. She had made a decision that they should have made together. He'd like to think that he'd have been ok with whatever she decided had they talked and it was really what she wanted, but he knew it was a lie. His last words to her were cruel, and he left there, heading back to his grandmother's house before he was consumed with tears and grief.

Lily had killed their child.