*******************************Author's Note************

Hello readers! Sorry its been so long between chapters; life has really snuck up on us and its been hard to get anything done. Between school (back to back classes) and kids (two emergency room visits in 3 days) and girl scouts and t-ball games and work, its been hell even getting a moment to type much less to focus on storylines. This part is done, and I want to get it posted… I know it's a lot shorter than we usually post, but the other half of the chapter will be up as soon as I figure out what the end of it is… two more are in the works. Enjoy!

"What do you mean I can't come back?" Damitri scowled at the nurse who refused to allow him past the desk. Terry hesitated just inside the doorway but the medi-witch was tugging on his arm to get him to move along.

"Come, sir, we have a dozen more waiting to be seen!" she urged, pulling him through the door into the back. Terry gazed around the place with a great deal of trepidation, unsure if he even wanted to be within ten miles of this place. The clinic where he had seen Ms. Weasley had been so bright and clean and airy, lots of natural lighting and relaxing music, and beautiful babies and pictures on the walls. This place was nothing like that at all.

It was austere and clean, walls painted simple white with black rubber trim to keep things from scuffing up the wall if they ran into it. The waiting room had photos of sunsets and skylines and everything just was so antiseptic... The smell of cleansers and sterilizing solutions assaulted his sensitive sense of smell and made his stomach turn over the moment they had walked in here.

Once he got inside, it was even more inhuman feeling. The pictures on the walls were of cutouts of human heads and chests, showing intestines and blood vessels and things; there was nothing soothing to look at for someone like himself who could not read.

The nurse led him along and he followed numbly, barely able to answer the questions she rattled off as she took his temperature and blood pressure and his weight, asking him if he knew what his weight gain had been. When he mumbled that he had no idea, she smiled at him and led him onward to a tiny room with cabinets lining one wall and a strange table with silver things sticking up from the side that he had no idea what their use could be... She handed him folded up gown and a sheet and instructed him to get undressed, as the medi-witch would be in shortly to see him. She then walked out with clinical efficiency, leaving him alone.

Terry wanted to yank the door open and go and find Damitri; he was terrified to be closed in here without him. He had experienced a horrible childhood and Damitri was the only secure thing he knew. With trembling fingers he began to disrobe, casting frequent fearful looks toward the door. He gazed at the gown a moment, confused once he had pulled it on. The front didn't flap over? How was he to wear such a thing and not expose himself to these women he didn't know? He decided to use the sheet not just for his legs, but to provide him some coverage. He shook out the sheet and he wrapped it around his back and to the front under his arms, then crossed the flaps over his chest and tied the corners up behind his neck like a Hawaiian muumuu. Feeling as if he was at least decently covered up, he stepped up to take a seat on the table.

By this time he could hear Damitri out in the hall and his heart leapt with joy. When the door opened and Damitri stood there Terry gave a little cry and ran to him.

Damitri closed the door firmly behind him and gathered his husband into his arms. "Easy now, Terry, I'm here. And none of these harpies are going to separate us again."

"I'm sorry Dimi, I… I guess I'm still such a baby…" Terry gave his husband a tremulous smile, trying to be brave.

"Nonsense. They had no right to separate us. Your new medi-witch should be in here soon." Damitri said soothingly, moving to help him sit up on the table and wait until the medi-wizard showed up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

Terry had just begun to calm down and feel that things weren't so bad. He was safe and comforted in the warm embrace of Damitri's arms, resting against him as he waited, seated on the bed.

Nearly half an hour passed before there was a brisk knock on the door followed by it opening and the two men got their first look at the one who was to replace Hermione Weasley as Terry's midwife-witch. And the mere look of her nearly sent Terry back into tears.

It wasn't her uniform that made her frightening; no, Terry had seen his share of medics and psychologists and the lot and he had long since learned to relax around them especially if his Damitri was allowed to remain. No, this woman's uniform was as pristine as the office; not a fold where it should not be, creased and pressed to perfection.

The thing about this woman that set Terry on edge the moment he saw her was her face. She couldn't have been older than Mrs. Weasley, if one judged by her smooth skin and her carefully coiffed hair that was blonde and shot through with gray streaks. She wore no makeup whatsoever and the line between her eyes from worry or anger seemed to be permanently etched there from her brows constantly being drawn together. Her mouth was small and was held in a tight-lipped, clearly disapproving frown that gave her an overall pinched appearance. "I am Miss Shalder. I will be your midwife-witch for the rest of your term and I will be the one who delivers your child." She told them both in a flat tone.

"Can't we get someone else?" Terry asked Damitri in a whisper.

Unfortunately for Terry, Midwife-witch Shalder heard him. She glared at him a moment, then answered in a tart tone; "With the shortage of midwives right now, I seriously doubt it, Mr. Zabini." she then resumed her personage of professionalism. "Let's get down to business." She announced, looking at Damitri. "If you will step back sir?"

Damitri kissed Terry's hand, then stepped aside to the corner of the room to allow the medic clear access to his husband.

"All right: Terry, is it…? Yes. Terry, lie back on the bed and I will check your progress… it seems none of the notes from the clinic have been released even for medical reasons at this time." The pinch-faced witch commented, taking a moment to look at how Terry had concealed his body. She scowled further and moved behind Terry, untying the knot without ceremony and letting the sheet fall to the sides. Then without explaining or asking permission, she tugged the covering gown up and sheet down to expose Terry's slightly rounded stomach.

Terry glanced at Damitri nervously, reaching for his hand.

"Please, sir, you must stand back!" The witch ordered, scowling at Damitri when he stepped forward. Terry drew back his hand as if it had been burned. "You'll interfere with the scans and I have a lot of work to document before your husband leaves."

Damitri returned the scowl, refusing to back down. "My husband needs some reassurance, and without it I can almost guarantee you will not complete a single bit of your necessary 'work' without my presence." He retorted, stepping up beside the bed out of the way, taking Terry's hand in his. "I'll take it to the Head of the Hospital if you deny me my right to be with him!"

She glared a moment, and then whipped out her wand and, continuing with her habit of not bothering to explain, she performed several spells over the stomach of the slim, effeminate man lying prone upon the examination table.

"Dimi, what's she doing...? Is the baby all right?" Terry whispered softly, his feeling of nervousness and near panic rising up once more. There must be something wrong, she never said a single word!

"Shush!" She insisted without even bothering to meet his eyes, now laying her hands directly upon Terry's skin and probing for a few moments.

Terry silenced immediately, tears welling up in his eyes. He closed them tightly at her touch, biting his lip.

Damitri's anger only grew at the offhanded treatment of his husband. Granted, he was a squib but he was as much a member of the wizarding world as anyone else was.

"Scans show that things are normal, nothing to fret over," she announced, tugging the sheet back up to cover him. "Your baby seems to be doing fine." she turned away.

"When do we come back for our next checkup?" Damitri asked, unable to keep from noticing that Terry was trembling now despite his best efforts to hide it.

"Checkup? Whatever for?" She looked at him askance as she used her wand to make notations in the file.

"For the baby...?" Terry murmured timidly but silenced at her glare at him.

"Your baby is fine. Go on home and call us when you have any problems." she said, turning away again.

"Madam, you will arrange a follow-up appointment for us. My husband is a squib and we require specialized care; we need a follow up appointment to ensure the continued health of our baby." Damitri clarified, working quite hard to control his anger so as not to further frighten Terry. At this moment he would like nothing better than to hex this thoughtless witch!

"If you must have one I'll go and get you the day and time," she grunted, snatching up the case file and bustling out the door.

Terry began to weep, trembling, and Damitri gathered him into his arms, soothing him. "Easy baby..." he murmured.

"I don't like her Damitri... she's going to hurt me or she's going to hurt our baby. I don't understand what she just did or why she's so angry at us we haven't done anything wrong..." he wept. "She says that our baby is okay but… but I want Ms. Weasley back, Dimi… this woman is going to hurt our baby…"

"No one's going to hurt our baby..."

"I don't want to come back here, Dimi... not ever... I hate this place, please don't ever make me come back here, it scares me...!" he whispered, trembling.