Chapter 24

Gloria's due date had been and gone and for Salamander she was becoming an even bigger nightmare as she constantly complained about being uncomfortable. Her back ached, her feet ached, her whole body ached and Sal's head ached from hearing about it all. On the day she should have given she had disappeared birth and he had searched everywhere for her, during the last month of her pregnancy she had not gone anywhere without him by her side and when he had gone into the bedroom to wake her and found she was missing he had become confused. Gloria had turned up shortly after dinner through the floo network saying she had been with her mother for the morning but Sal felt uncomfortably suspicious. Although they had been in close proximity he had actually barely spoken a civil word to her since the day of her last check up and he had spent many sleepless nights tossing and turning as he thought about the outcome of the paternity test.

He had stayed away from the annual Weasley sending off to school party this year, his sister was not going away so he had not needed to see her off this time but he had also known that Rose would be there and seeing him with Gloria was more than she could take. He had spared her the agony of it all as really the Weasleys were not his family, no matter how close they were. Instead he had thought about Rose all day while he had been stuck at home building baby furniture for Gloria and when he had gone to bed he had been unable to sleep again, a constant thing ever since he'd found out that she had hidden the paternity test from him. When he thought about that he would also think about the reactions his blood had had with Gloria's and Rose's, if the foul reaction that his and Gloria's blood had had was repeated in the baby's blood then he would know that it was his, but as the reaction seemed to mirror their relationship would the reaction mirror the child? Would its blood show what kind of person he or she would be? He did not want to imagine that of his own child, while he knew he would never love Gloria he would do his best to provide a stable home and happy childhood for his own flesh and blood, but would that be enough to stop him or her from being...what? The stunning reaction that his blood had had with Rose's only seemed to highlight his worry even more, a child born to them would surely be happy and loving and beautiful just like their blood had been. He knew that he and Rose were meant to be and that test seemed to have somehow proved it, even though if the situation they were in had never come about they would never have performed that test

That night he had fought with the idea of talking to Rose for hours as he tossed and turned but just after three had finally decided that he would visit her, he missed her so much and he told himself he would just talk and do nothing else, for her own good. When he had flooed into her living room and seen her half naked torso pinioned against her sofa by a topless man he had been gobsmacked and unable to do anything other that mutter her name. He had known she would move on eventually and had hoped that she would do it soon for her own sake but to see it like that had broken his heart though he knew immediately that he had no right to say anything. That was why he had flooed back out immediately and collapsed onto the sofa where he had spent the rest of the night replaying the image and imagining how much further it had gone after he had left. He wanted that for her but he didn't want to have to see it, or even know about it.

That had been over three weeks ago now and Salamander had finally come to terms with it, he was still facing an uncertain future and was just glad that Rose had found someone else. Whether the relationship was going to be a long term thing he did not know, but if she was sleeping with other people she was getting on with her life without him in it, which he knew was what she needed to do. He knew he would never like the man, or indeed any man who ended up with her as he knew he would always love Rose Weasley from afar, but he would be civil and treat any man with respect, for her sake, it was what she deserved.

"What the hell is that?" he asked as Gloria walked past him on the sofa with a large glass full of a dark purple slimy looking liquid.

"Dittany, crows feet and gillyweed extract," she explained looking at it and grimacing. Then he watched as she tilted her head back and drained the full glass screwing up her eyes and pulling a face of disgust as she swallowed the last little bit, "It's supposed to bring on labour," she went on patting her stomach and pulling the miserable face that Sal was now getting used to. "I have to take it three times a day according to the healer."

"When did you see a healer?" he asked suspiciously.

"A...ages ago at...at my first appointment, she was asking about..." she paused to think, "pregnancy history in the family and I said that I had been overdue so she told me that if I ended up being overdue I was to take the potion. She told me that she'd had to take it when she had her baby and it had worked for her within three days."

"Oh," he replied looking at her protruding stomach, it didn't look quite as swollen as he had always been expecting , especially at around a week late, but then he had never really been around pregnant women before so did not know what to expect at all. It irked him that Gloria had managed to talk him out of the paternity test again as he would have known by her due date at least, now that she was over he felt like he was still waiting for an answer which he could have already had.

"Well I'm off for a nap now," she continued walking over to the bedroom door, he didn't respond to her even when she touched him lovingly on the shoulder. She was still trying to turn him to her and had even commented that she had heard sex was also a good way to kick start labour but he flatly refused to go near her. "I do love you Sal," she whispered at the doorway but he pretended not to hear her as she walked through and closed the door behind her.

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Almost a week later Gloria was still taking the potion which made her gag and Sal was desperately trying to persuade her to visit St Mungos to see what they could do. His mother had said that they could start off labour when the baby was very overdue but she refused to be induced magically saying that the baby was just taking its time and the potion would work eventually. It was now the end of September and the baby was over two weeks late, the thought that Sal might have known by now was still plaguing him and after watching Gloria drain another glass of the foul aubergine liquid he decided to visit his parents for a couple of hours. "But what if I go into labour?" she had protested.

"Then I'll be an owl or a floo away, I think you might be able to manage to contact me somehow," he replied jumping into the fire and disappearing before she could throw another argument at him. His life was dreadful and though he had made himself promise not to visit Rose up until a month ago he had at least had the knowledge that she was there for him if he had needed her. Now he knew she was there for someone else and though he was happy for her he felt worse for himself as his only place of refuge now was his parent's home. "Hello Darling," his mother said as he walked into the cluttered living room where she was sat darning socks using her wand to operate the needle, "I was just fixing your Dad's boot socks for school, he says the weather is starting to turn up there already!"

"Hmmm," he replied sitting down in a chair.

"How's Gloria doing?" she asked tilting her head to one side, "Still uncomfortable?"

"Apparently," he answered without looking at her, "she doesn't look that bad even though she keeps complaining."

"I thought that last week when I called in and saw you both, most overdue mothers are bloated and can barely move but she still seems fairly agile for nine and a half months, but well I suppose everyone is different. The baby will come when it comes," she added dreamily.

"She's trying some potion now that the healer told her about, she's been on it for a week but it hasn't done anything yet," he groaned.

"Oh yes, Castor oil and beetroot juice," she said, "is it purple?"

"Yeah," he said absentmindedly, "but she said it was dittany, gillyweed extract and something else, must be a new one."

"Dittany, gillyweed and crow's feet?" she asked cautiously dropping her socks and needle onto the table beside her.

"Yeah that's it," he sighed.

"Are you sure son?"

"Yes...why?" he asked sitting up and looking at his mother who had a worried expression on her face.

"A healer wouldn't have told her to try that, not when she's overdue, it wouldn't work at all."

"Maybe she misunderstood," Sal went on sitting back in the chair, "That's probably why it hasn't worked."

"No, son you don't understand, dittany, gillyweed and crow's feet is what they use to induce premature labour, when they find something wrong with the mother or baby and need to get it out quickly. They would only ever give it out under controlled situations at St Mungos, it's very dangerous, too much can harm the baby and if it is not mixed in the correct quantities it won't work either, but it will start to attack the baby. Once the mixture is in its system it needs real oxygen from the air into it's lungs or terrible things can happen. It is only ever used as an extreme measure, I'm sure a healer wouldn't have shared it with Gloria."

"Then why is she taking it?" he asked looking at his mother in confusion, "Unless..." he drifted off as his mind went into overdrive.

"What darling?" Luna asked.

"She's...she's not overdue."

"How can she not be overdue? The hospital would have told you it will be in her records."

"But…I've never actually seen any of her records, when I think about it I never went in for her private exam which is when they filled in all her paperwork. And the other week the healer seemed confused when we decided to wait for the paternity test until it was born when we could have known on her due date," he stood up as realisation began to dawn on him, "and she's not as big and swollen as everyone has been expecting her to be because...she's not overdue. Mother I think she's only eight and a half months."

"What?" Luna gasped.

"On her due date she disappeared, she said she'd been to her mother's but I bet she'd been to St Mungos for her last check up, her eight month check up. She's been using that potion to induce her labour so she'll give birth prematurely and then she'll find another way to stop me doing the test, she's still lying to me, she's been lying to me all along. It can't be my baby," he started to shout, "we can't have even been together when it was conceived."

"Oh...oh Salamander," Luna began to cry, "do you really believe that?"

"I do Mum, I really do, it all makes sense, why she wouldn't let us have the paternity test, why she didn't want it when she first found out, she's always known but she's been trying to trap me into falling for her again and making a complete family, with me as the sucker who fell for it all. She'll hope that I will fall for the baby instantly and not even care if it is mine or not, she's been trying to get me to bond with it all the time and...and..." he was raging now and had begun to pace the living room ignoring his mother's shushing noises and feeling his blood boiling rapidly in his head. "All this time, she's known all this time," he continued throwing his hands up in the air, "and...and she's made me...made me miserable...made me hurt Rose and...and..." He thought about the new man in Rose's life, the one she had moved on with, the one who might take the place that he had wanted, the place that could have been his if Gloria hadn't interfered with his life, hadn't played on his noble side and made him go back to her like a fool. "I'm an idiot," he yelled, "an idiot." And without another word or explanation he spun on the spot and apparated out of his mother's house and back to his home where Gloria was laying on the sofa reading a magazine and looking as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Salamander, you made me jump," she said looking up at him and then recoiling slightly at his vehement and angry stare, "what's...what's the-"

"I know," he said in a barely controlled voice.

"Know...? What...do...you...mean?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"You've been lying all along, you've known all along that it couldn't possibly be mine."

"W...what?"

"Come off it Gloria, I've worked it out, we weren't even together when you got pregnant, you're not two weeks late, you're still two weeks off your due date, aren't you?" He stared at her with wild eyes and she cowered beneath their gaze, she had never seen him so angry and the fear she had had inside of her for a while now had finally come to fruition.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," she said trying to compose her shaking body, "of course I'm overdue, you've been at all my checks haven't you?"

"Ar, yes but I've never seen any of the paperwork, I've never talked to the healers about dates, they've always done that in the other room with you," he said steadily still burning his gaze into her, "I've just believed you and you've kept it from me all this time. That stuff you're taking doesn't induce labour it causes premature labour, I don't know how you know that but it's dangerous and you've probably not been taking it correctly as it hasn't worked. Stop lying Gloria, stop making a fool out of me, you've played on my noble streak because whoever this kid really belongs to ran a mile at the first sign of trouble and you pushed your problems onto me because you knew I'd be a man and step up for you. You've put me through hell Gloria, for eight months I've been miserable and beside myself at the prospect of spending my whole life with you. I've lost the woman I truly love, the only woman I have ever truly loved," she gasped at this statement, "yes Gloria that's right," he went on maliciously, "I thought I loved you once but when I found real love I knew that I never really had. It's always about you, about your opinions, about what you wanted to do and like an idiot I came back to you. I gave up a wonderful girl, for you," he spat.

"The Weasley?" she replied starting to vent her own anger now at his vicious words, "you think you loved that tart? The whore who has more notches on her bedpost than her womanising cousin?"

"Don't talk about her like that!" Sal yelled vehemently.

"She won't have you back now anyway!" Gloria began to gloat, "She'll have thrown herself desperately at some other fool, another idiot like you who'll fall for her charms and be stuck with her, at least I gave you a way out."

"Out of what?" he yelled back at her.

"Out of a stifling relationship with that clingy girl, everyone knows she's so desperate for love that she'll shag anything with a penis! Including a few animals I should imagine."

"How dare you?" Salamander screamed, his fists clenching at his sides, "Rose is not a clingy, desperate girl, she's a vulnerable woman who wants to be loved and I wanted to be the one to do that. I wanted to be the one who loved her until you dug your claws back in and ripped us apart."

"I gave you a chance at being a family, I love you Sal and I'll always love you."

"You can't love me Gloria, if you did you wouldn't have done this to me."

"But I...I did it for you," she whimpered losing some of her anger as she laid back against the sofa.

"No, you did it for yourself, because you had no one else to turn to. How were you going to get out of the paternity test when the baby arrived? You've known all along it wasn't mine."

"I...I."

"You were hoping I would fall in love with it weren't you?" She gazed at him without speaking, "Didn't you?" he shouted.

"Yes," she sobbed dropping her face into her hands, "I hoped that somewhere, deep inside, you still loved me and that you would look after me," she finished glancing up at him through enormous eyes.

"Because the real father wouldn't?"

"I don't...I don't know," she wailed.

"What do you mean you don't know? Haven't you told him?"

"I...I don't know who the father is," she whispered.

"What?"

"It happened one night, I met someone at the bar after I'd seen you with...her," she spat the word instead of her name. "I met someone and went home with him, I didn't even know his name, I was so drunk that I didn't pay attention, I didn't care and we didn't use a spell or a potion." She started to weep softly, "I just left the next morning and tried to forget about it until..."

"Until you found out that you were pregnant," he finished for her, "and then you decided to dump your problems on me, even though you knew I was happy."

"I wanted you back Sal, I love you so much and...and when I saw you with Rose I couldn't stand it. I realised what a stupid mistake I had made and thought if I could get you to love me again we could be a proper family. And even though I knew the baby would never be yours, I just hoped you would love it anyway, the way I thought you loved me...once." She continued to weep into her hands but he made no move to comfort her, while he felt for her situation he still could not come to terms with the fact that she had ripped his life apart as well as her own because she had known that he would step up and be a gentleman. "I'm sorry," she added.

"I don't care," he whispered.

"What?" she asked hopefully.

"I mean I don't care anymore, about any of it, I just want you out."

"Oh," she groaned.

"I can't look at you Gloria, I don't want to be near you, you destroyed my life for nothing, well nothing to do with me, just go. Now," he said in a steady voice.

"Sal-"

"I said go," he shouted pointing his finger at the fireplace and she stood up slowly trembling as she headed into the bedroom to collect some things together. When he turned to look at the fireplace he was still pointing at he saw his mother standing in it watching him. "How...how long have you been there?" he asked quietly.

"Long enough," she replied stepping out and enfolding him in her arms as he started to cry, he put his head on her shoulder and she soothed him without any words. He would talk about it when he was ready and she would listen if he wanted her to, "You've done the right thing Darling," she whispered, "you've done the right thing."

She stood holding her son for a few minutes more until the sound of the bedroom door reopening made them turn to look but what they saw was not a woman with a bag packed ready to leave, it was a woman with a look of terror on her face clutching her side, "Sal, Luna," she whimpered, "I think I'm in labour."