Chapter 12
Draco stood outside of an upscale French restaurant with a bouquet of white daisies in hand. Blaise had insisted that he pick them up for him as a peace offering for Pansy. He spent twenty minutes ranting and raving to Draco about the fight they had had earlier, and begged him to bring the flowers to dinner. Blaise, of course, had no intentions of showing up.

Instead, it was Hermione who spotted him. "Draco? What are you doing here?" she wondered.

"Meeting Blaise. You?"

She looked away as she answered. "Pansy set me up with Adrian Pucey," she replied. "Told me I would recognize him by the daisies in his hand. I think we've been duped."

He handed the flowers to her. "Ya know, they have an account here," he told her. "Even if we've been duped, that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a free meal. Hungry?"

"I'm eating for two now. I'm always hungry," she replied. He led her inside and they were soon seated. They distracted themselves by reading the menus, but Hermione knew that at some point that would no longer be an option. They would have to talk, and she had no idea what to say to him.

He set his menu aside. "I should have known Blaise wasn't going to show up," he said. "Asking me to bring him flowers should have been my first clue. Pansy hates daisies, and I've bought you flowers enough to know that the white ones are your favorite."

Hidden behind her menu, her cheeks reddened and warmed. Since they had moved in together, Draco had ensured that a fresh vase of white daisies would be on her dresser at all times. They had been her mother's favorite flower, and she had adopted it as hers at a young age. "Why would you believe that story?" she wondered, reaching for her water glass.

Draco shrugged. "Eh, I don't pay attention to half the things he says to me," he replied. An older gentleman with a thin gray mustache came by to take their orders, and with them, Hermione's shield. Alone now, with nothing to hide behind, she offered him a nervous smile. "So, um, are you upset that you're not having dinner with Pucey?"

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. It had been a week since their fight, and a week since they had spoken. "I was...intrigued by the idea of dating someone. And then I was getting ready to go out, and I looked in the mirror. The first thought I had was I look like a beached whale. The second thought was who would want to date a pregnant woman? So, I think a part of me is glad that Pansy lied about Adrian."

Reaching across the table, he took her hand. "I don't think you look like a whale," he told her. "You're hardly even showing. Even if you were the size of a house, I'd still think you're beautiful."

"You don't have to say that," she said softly. "But thank you."

The waiter delivered their drinks and promptly walked away from the table. "I meant it," he stated.

Hermione nodded uncomfortably. "Um, I want to say I'm sorry," she told him, looking down to where his hand still covered hers. "Everything I said to you was out of line. I was upset when you told me that I should date someone else because I thought that meant that you didn't want me."

He gave her hand a squeeze. "I didn't want you to feel obligated to me because of the baby," he replied. "I thought I was doing the right thing, telling you that you had a choice."

"What if I wanted to choose you?" she wondered.

Draco tensed. "Is that...is that what you want?" he asked.

"I think it is," she replied. "But then I second guess myself. I worry that I have feelings that you don't reciprocate. I'm scared that I'll lose you because of that. I don't ever want things to be awkward or uncomfortable between us. You're all I've got."

"You're all I have too," he admitted. "I was never good at being a boyfriend. You can ask Pansy; she'll back me up on that. I've always made it a point to avoid doing things I'm not good at. Maybe that's why the idea of having a baby freaks me out so much. Like maybe if you dated someone else, you'd figure out that you don't need me, and then I won't ruin our child's life by being a terrible father."

Her brows wrinkled with worry and concern. What was he trying to tell her? Perhaps this was his way of saying he wanted out. Tears threatened to sting her eyes as she said, "I'm confused."

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I'm confusing myself too," he agreed. "Let me start over. I don't want to run away from this. For awhile I thought I did. I had a million reasons why I shouldn't be around, and two why I should. I just kept coming back to wanting to be with you and our baby. I can't run away from the only family I have."

The tears she had tried so hard to keep at bay flowed freely now. Rising from her chair, she rounded the table and hugged him. Face pressed to the spot between his shoulder and neck, she sobbed softly. "I'm sorry," she said when she finally pulled away. "I think I just got makeup all over your shirt." And she laughed despite her sniffling.

His arm remained around her waist, and his other hand gently caressed her stomach. "It's fine," she assured her. "Besides, you always do the laundry."

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and retook her seat. "Some things are going to have to change around the house," she warned him. "The bigger I get, and especially once the baby comes, there's just going to be no time for me to do fun things like laundry and the cooking."

Laughing as their meals arrived, Draco stole a carrot from her plate and popped it in his mouth. "Maybe you should have let Pansy set you up with someone," he commented. "Maybe you would have learned what fun is."

"Well, clearly you haven't done your job if I still don't know how to have fun," she replied, trying her hardest to seem affronted.

Clearing his throat, he shifted nervously in his seat. "Will you come home now?" he asked, fearful that she might say no.

She held out her hand to him, silently asking him to accept it. "I'd love nothing more," she told him.