A/N I'm so sorry this has taken so long. The last six weeks have been pretty awful in Real Life, and by the time I had a chance to actually write I wasn't in a position to deal with the sad bits in this chapter. Things seem to be settling now and I hope to be updating reasonably regularly.

Remus stared at her, his eyes dropping to her flat stomach as if looking for some sort of clue.

"Pregnant?" he said in shock. "You had a baby?" He raised his head and looked round the office, as if expecting a small child to appear from a draw or cupboard like a Jack-in-a-Box.

Hermione smiled sadly as she watched him. "I said I was pregnant, not that I had a child." She wrapped her arms around her stomach as if to protect herself from a long gone danger. "Sadly, one doesn't always lead to the other." Her eyes filled with tears as she spoke. Silently Remus reached for her, drawing her into his arms. She leant her head against his broad chest, allowing herself to draw comfort from the strength of this man who so clearly cared.

After a few minutes Remus spoke. "What happened? Did he, he, hurt you?" He faltered as he asked, not wanting to upset her any more than she already was.

She smiled at the genuine concern in his voice and shook her head. She pulled back slightly from him, but allowed her hand to slip into his as she picked up her story again. "Not in the way I think you mean, not physically. When I found out I wasn't sure what Kyle would think, I hadn't told him my suspicions, I didn't want him to have to deal with the idea of being a Dad if it was a false alarm, a stomach bug or whatever. It was a Tuesday morning when I had my Healer appointment and it was confirmed. I remember it all so clearly, the spells she used, the colours that showed up, hovering over my tummy. Even the pattern of the paper on the walls is clear in my head. I didn't do any work that day, I was just thinking of how to tell him. I was convinced that he'd be happy but it's still big news. I thought of everything from just coming out and saying it to setting up a romantic dinner and breaking it to him that way. I couldn't decide and figured it was best to see what happened when I saw him."

Hermione stepped through the fireplace and brushed the soot from her robes, absently thinking of other ways to travel to and from work once the morning sickness started, probably in a week or so, as it was meant to be hellish to floo when you felt sick anyway. She was greeted by the scent of chicken cooking, and could hear Kyle moving about in the kitchen.

"Kyle?" she called. "I'm home."

"Kitchen," he called in reply. He smiled as she walked in and handed her a glass of white wine. "I thought we could eat on the balcony, since it's such a lovely evening." Hermione smiled and handed the glass of wine back.

"Dinner outside sounds lovely, but no wine for me thanks." She smiled softly as she spoke.

Kyle looked at her appraisingly. "Why not? Are you feeling ill?" She shook her head, still smiling. "Ok, going somewhere then?" Another shake. "What then, just don't want any?"

"I'm not supposed to drink." He stared at her for a moment then his gaze dropped to the hand she was resting on her still flat belly. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"You...we're...you're... baby?" he spluttered. Hermione laughed as he was rendered speechless and nodded. Suddenly Kyle grinned and let out a shout. He pulled her into his arms and swung her round and round as she giggled. Suddenly he put her back down and stepped back.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Don't want to hurt you or anything."

"Ky, spinning me round isn't going to do any harm. Might make me throw up, especially if I get bad morning sickness, but apart from that it's fine." Hermione said.

"No, we have to be careful in your condition. Oh, wow. I can't believe it, there's so much to plan."

Hermione smiled again. "How about we start with dinner? After all, we have eight months to sort the details."

"Well, yeah, but there's lots needs doing before then. First things first, we'll need to tell my parents. And then see when in the next few weeks is good for them to attend the wedding. It won't be huge but we can do a lot even for the weekend after next. And we need to owl your boss, hand in your notice. Hire a decorator for the nursery, we'll stay in the flat for now, move to a house when the baby is big enough to play outside, or the next one comes along, whichever..."

"Kyle!" Hermione interrupted. "Firstly, wedding? Since when are we getting married. And hand in my notice? I can work until a month or so before my due date you know. And I want to do the decorating ourselves, it'll be nicer that way."

"What? This baby is having the best of everything and that means a professional job on the nursery. And of course we're getting married, can't have a child out of wedlock can we?" Hermione raised her eyebrows at the Victorian phrasing.

"Alright, but you could have asked properly you know instead of telling me. And does it have to be so soon? Ginny and Harry are away until the end of the month."

"Why does that matter? It's only going to be small, immediate family, you know," Kyle said.

"They are my family, you know that. Just them Ron and George if you like, although Molly and Arthur will be upset if they're not there. And I think the beginning of July would be the nicest time for a wedding."

"Fine." Kyle sighed. "You can have the Weasleys there, if you let my mum help with the planning." It was Hermione's turn to sigh, she knew that if Kyle's mum was 'helping' plan she would insist on having the final say on everything. She nodded, sensing she had pushed enough. "Good. Now, work. You have to leave, the stress isn't good for the baby." Hermione opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off. "No, Hermione. You are not getting your way on this one. You will write in the morning and hand in your notice, effective immediately."

"If I stop work now I'll have to start from scratch again when I go back. It's not going to do any harm if I work for the next few months at least," Hermione said, trying to be rational about things, although she felt like the situation was flying out of control.

"Go back? Once the baby is born you'll need to be here and look after it, and any brothers and sisters we have for this one. It won't make any difference if you stop working now or in six months."

"I'm not giving up work! It's what I've always worked for, to be able to make a difference, and I'm so close." She said, tears in her eyes.

"I said no. You're leaving work and that's it. Stop arguing with everything I say. I know you're hormonal, but it's no excuse. I only want what's best for you and the baby, you know that sweetheart. I'm trying to make this easy, you're the one making it difficult." He stopped speaking and just looked at her, his eyes sad. "Don't you love me and the baby at all?" he said. He sounded so sad and dejected that Hermione just hugged him.

"I'm sorry, of course it's ok. I'll do as you said, I'm just a little overwhelmed, that's all." Her heart sank even as she spoke. She knew she shouldn't be giving up, but he really did want what was best for her.

Hermione stopped speaking and sighed. "Sometimes I wonder at myself, I get so angry now. I spent years arguing my case with Harry and Ron and suddenly I was the kind of person who just rolled over and did as they were told. I suppose by that point I'd spent almost a year just doing whatever Kyle wanted, and it was second nature to me."

"What happened?" Remus asked. "Did you marry him? I'm pretty sure I'd remember if it had been in the paper, even a private wedding."

"No, we didn't get married. With it being summer the Ministry was busy with weddings and the soonest date we could get that his parents could attend was the end of August. By that time I would've been four months and beginning to show, which he hated. In the end it didn't matter anyway." She took another deep breath and squeezed the hand that was still clasped in hers. "I was in Paris, wedding dress shopping with his mother, Eloise. It was a pretty dress, and it hid any bump I might have. I didn't care, but Eloise and Kyle were insistent the bump didn't show. It seemed silly to me, after all people can count, and when I gave birth five months after the wedding it would've been pretty obvious, but I was out numbered. Anyway, I was stood in the shop, an upscale store in Wizarding Paris, when I had a sharp pain in my stomach. I doubled over and when I straightened there was a red mark on the skirt of the dress, which started to grow. I remember staring at it before I collapsed.

"When I woke up I was in St Mungo's, I'd been transferred from the French hospital. I'd lost the baby." Silent tears ran down her face as she talked. "They ran all sorts of tests on me but they all came back fine. I was in perfect health for the third month of pregnancy, there was nothing anyone could have done. One of those things, they said.

"Kyle was upset, but when we got home it went from upset and concerned to upset and angry. I was still bleeding slightly and felt awful, I was drained physically and emotionally. I barely registered it when he started to shout. My lack of response just made him angrier and angrier. I didn't even notice until he grabbed me and pulled me off the sofa where I was huddled. He had hold of my arms and was screaming in my face. He said it was my fault, that I couldn't do anything right, that he'd given me everything and I couldn't even do the simplest of things for a woman and give him a child. I was shaking and crying, trying to get him off me. I fell as we struggled and he kicked me. It didn't even look like him, he kept kicking my stomach, yelling how it was useless anyway and didn't matter. I was in so much pain then suddenly everything went clear. A voice in my head reminded me of the last time I'd been on the floor screaming in pain. I reminded myself that if a Death Eater couldn't break me then I shouldn't let Kyle do it. It was like I was looking at myself from across the room as I grabbed my wand off the table and stunned him. I crawled to the fireplace and managed to call Grimmauld Place. Harry Ron and Ginny were all home, no-one had told them I was in hospital. I only managed to croak out 'help' before I fainted." She closed her eyes for a moment then wiped the tears from her face. She looked at Remus and manage to smile. "That was pretty much that. They took me back to the hospital who said there was no lasting damage done by Kyle's attack. George and Harry fetched my stuff from the flat and set me up in George's spare room for a while. I went back to work and began to rebuild my life, a step at a time."

"What about Kyle? What happened to him?" Remus asked.

"The Aurors were called but no charges were ever brought. Something about my mental stated having lost a baby meant that any pensieve evidence wouldn't hold up in a trial and with one thing and another he got away with it. In some ways I'm glad, I would hate to have it dragged through the public eye. But then I'm angry he got away with it. They moved to France in the end, George knew the owner of the company Kyle worked for and made sure he couldn't stay there. I managed to get my life back, but I've never been able to trust a man since." She smiled as she looked into his gentle brown eyes, currently full of sorrow and horror from her story. "Not until now anyway."

Remus started slightly at such a loaded statement. Even though he knew he shouldn't, that she was vulnerable after sharing her story with him, he couldn't help himself. He leant over and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her softly, trying to say in actions what he couldn't find the words to.

A/N. Too much, not enough, just right? Let me know what you think!