Chapter 19
Something Good

Parvati stared at the calendar on the kitchen table. It was two weeks exactly until she was due. Two weeks until she would have a living, breathing human in her arms, two weeks until her life would be changed forever.

She knew that she wasn't ready, she had never been ready. Not before, not now. Having children had never been on her list of things to accomplish. Never, when she was a child had she thought about her future and included having children in it; she just wanted a house, a job and a husband, no children in the picture at all.

But she would have to be ready because that baby was coming ready or not.

She sighed heavily and turned away from the calendar, the sooner that this was over the better. Parvati didn't know what to feel. The last few weeks had been just a sea of confusion for her, she hadn't done anything since her meeting with Emily, if anything all she had done was sit in the house and think more.

Dean had gone out and bought a bassinet and a few sets of clothes the previous day in hopes of enticing her to talk about what she was feeling, but Parvati had ignored him, preferring to sit by herself and think about nothing in particular, anything that would take her mind of the monumental task to come.

"Hey," Dean said, walking out of the bathroom with a smile on his face and making his way over to sit next to Parvati, "You alright?"

"Fine," Parvati said shortly, "Just thinking."

"What about," Dean asked, taking her hand and clasping it in his.

"Not much," she said with a shrug.

"Well you must be thinking about something," Dean said, "You can tell me you know."

Parvati didn't answer, she just looked out of the window into the distance, begging to be taken away from the present, begging to have her life reversed and hoping, praying that she could take a different road than the one that had gone with the ministry's orders and married Theodore Nott, she wouldn't be in this mess if she hadn't after all.

"Hey," Dean said, squeezing her hand, "Tell me, you can trust me you know."

Parvati sighed, "I'm so scared, Dean," she confessed, "With every second that comes closer I get more and more scared and it's killing me."

"It's okay to be scared," Dean said, his arm snaking its way around Parvati's waist. Parvati had to fight the urge to pull away and clock him over the head. It's Dean. She assured herself, Dean isn't going to hurt you.

"It doesn't feel okay," Parvati said, looking at her hands, "Nothing feels okay anymore."

"That's fine too," Dean said, smiling at her, "We all have times when we feel like nothing is okay."

"Why am I here Dean?" Parvati asked suddenly, looking up at him with tears in her eyes, "Why the actual fuck am I still here? Just to constantly be reminded of how shit this world is?"

"Calm down," Dean said, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb, "You're just stressed out, you need to sleep."

"I can't!" she exclaimed, "All I can do is worry and be scared. I don't even know what happiness feels like anymore. I feel like if I'm not scared, I'm not human and if I am then I'm being stupid."

"C'mere," Dean said, putting his arms around her and pulling her into a hug, "Everything's going to be alright."

"You don't know that," Parvati sniffed as she relaxed into his chest, "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"You're right," Dean said, "I don't know that for certain, but I do know that everything will be alright in the end, because it always is."

"Not always," Parvati said bitterly, "Look at me, I got out of that relationship, if you could call it that, with Theodore, and I'm about to have his baby, it's not alright at all."

"Well," Dean said, looking down at her, "I guess that means that you haven't reached the end yet."

Parvati's anxious face relaxed noticeably, "You're an amazing person," Parvati said, "I have no idea what, or where I would be without you."

"Well," Dean said, "I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't you who brought some meaning back into my life."

Parvati blushed, "stop it."

"It's true though," Dean said, "Without you I was just living day to day with no purpose whatsoever and then when I saw you again my life had a purpose."

"I'm sorry I broke up with you," Parvati blurted out, "It's just that we were in the middle of a war and I didn't think that either of us would survive and that's why I broke it off, I didn't want to be more heartbroken than I already would be if you had died."

"It's okay," Dean said softly, finding her hand and lacing his fingers through hers, "You should sleep, its late."

"I can't though," she muttered with a yawn, "I've been trying but it just doesn't come. Not an ounce of it."

"Just try," Dean said, "I'll be here the whole time."

"You won't leave?"

"Never,"

"Promise?"

"I promise,"

Parvati paused as she lay her head against his stomach, "Will you sing for me?"

Dean looked hesitant, "I can't sing."

"Sure you can," Parvati mumbled, "Sing me something from those things you watch with your sisters… musicals?"

Dean grinned, "Yeah, musicals, I still can't sing though."

"Don't be ridiculous, just choose something and sing it."

Dean sighed, giving in almost immediately. He cast his mind around for a song to sing, he found none. Instead, he stumbled upon the tune of an old muggle lullaby that his mother had sung to him when he was a child, and so he sang.

Rock-a-bye baby on the treetops
When the wind blows, your cradle will rock,
When the bough breaks,
Your cradle will fall,
and down will come baby, cradle and all…

"That's incredibly morbid," Parvati mumbled, "You just sung about a baby falling out of a tree…"

Dean thought for a second, "Hush," he said, realising that, indeed, it was literally about a baby falling out of a tree, "What do you want me to sing then?"

"Dunno," Parvati said sleepily, "take your time."

Dean thought and thought but couldn't find anything to sing for her, he only knew rock songs, preferring not to listen to the slower songs as they made him fall asleep. Then it hit him, the perfect song from his sisters' favourite musical.

Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
perhaps I had a miserable youth
but somewhere in my wicked, miserable past,
there must've been a moment of truth.

For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth, or childhood,
I must've done something good.

Dean knew there was a reason he didn't listen to slow songs as he felt his eyelids drooping at his own singing as Parvati's breathing became deep and rhythmic against his chest. Dean had told himself he wouldn't take his eye off of Parvati until she had the baby, and he hadn't for two whole weeks now, but Dean was only human and two whole weeks of performing stimulation spells on himself had taken its toll and he fell into a deep slumber shortly after Parvati. He was only human after all

Dean woke to a small whimper near his right ear, it was so quiet that it almost didn't register but Dean knew that there was only one person in the apartment who could make that noise, and that noise was often made when she was in pain.

Dean's eyes flew open and he sat up abruptly, feeling around blindly in the darkness for Parvati's form. He couldn't find it. His heart starting to pound he put his hand in his pyjama pocket and was relieved to feel his wand in there.

"Lumos," He whispered and the end of the wand lit up. Holding it high above his head, he let the light flow over most of the room until he spotted her, curled up on his couch, her head in his pillow, tensed and clearly in pain.

"Parvati," Dean said, his voice panicking as he flicked his wand at the light switch and light flooded the room, making both of them need to shield their eyes from the sudden brightness, "Are you okay?"

Parvati lifted her head out of the pillow briefly and one look at her face told Dean that, no, she was not okay, "Shit, what happened? A dream again?"

Parvati shook her head but before she could specify anything she had dived back into the pillow to stifle another low moan.

That's when Dean realised that the spot he was kneeling in on the carpet was soaking wet. Parvati's water had broken, and this baby was coming now.

"Shit," Dean exclaimed, wondering if he could get Parvati to St Mungo's within the given amount of time before it would hurt the baby to apparate, "Um, okay, Parvati how long have you been having contractions for,"

"About four hours," Parvati managed. Dean swore.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up?"

"I didn't want to worry you," Parvati said, gritting her teeth and sitting up. Dean was impressed at how well she was handling the situation, It couldn't be easy for her.

"Screw that," Dean said, jumping to his feet and throwing some things into a bag, "We're going to St Mungo's."

"I'm fine, really," Parvati said. Dean shook his head at her.

"Parvati, you've honestly got to stop making that excuse; you're having a baby, and the way my sister described it, it hurts like freaking hell. So quit telling me you're fine."

Parvati managed to roll her eyes as she took Dean's hand and the two of them left the apartment for the Apparition safe point in the alleyway next to the block.

"Do you want me to call Padma or Lavender?" Dean asked quickly as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"No, it's fine," Parvati insisted, "I've got you."

Dean smiled at her and squeezed her hand as they walked down to the entrance of the alleyway. Dean felt Parvati's hand tighten around his and knew that another contraction had hit her. His heart started to beat harder and faster as he realised that if they didn't get to St Mungo's soon, Parvati would be in a full blown labour. Parvati shut her eyes as they walked down the alleyway and Dean knew that now she was probably more prone to remembering what happened than ever before. He drew her closer to him as they reached the safe point, he fixated the waiting room of St Mungo's in his mind and turned on the spot and felt himself pulled into nothingness.

"What do you mean I can't go in with her?" Dean protested in outrage.

"I'm sorry, sir," the healer said, "We are only permitted to allow immediate family into the delivery ward."

"She hasn't got any immediate family here!" Dean roared, spraying spit in the healers face, "She's only got me!"

"And what relation do you have to Miss Patil?" The healer asked coolly.

"I'm her friend," Dean said indignantly. The healer pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the only time we are permitted to admit a member that is not immediate family into the delivery room is in the event that the couple isn't married. You do not qualify for any of those so I suggest that you sit tight and wait for news."

With that, the healer turned on her heel and walked back into the delivery ward. Dean swore loudly and aimed a kick at a garbage can, sending pieces of paper and empty food packaging flying across the room, earning reproachful looks from other families.

"Oh for fucks sake," Dean muttered, drawing his wand and conjuring his patronus, a large silver dolphin erupted from the end of it and was gone in a flash of silver light, sending a message to Lavender, Seamus, Padma and Terry to tell them to come on over right now. All Dean could do was wait for Padma to come and go in and help Parvati. He hated all of this 'family only' shit at St Mungo's. What if the person didn't have family, were the healers just going to keep them in there on their own. His heart ached for Parvati as he thought of her in there all alone just because the Healers wouldn't let him in, he had been forced to break his promise to stick by her no matter what because of some stupid St Mungo's regulation.

He sat down to refrain from killing someone.

"You alright there mate?" A man who looked about thirty said, leaning over from the seat opposite to talk to Dean.

"Just fed up with St Mungo's policies," Dean snapped. The man rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it. My best friend just got divorced and her whole family was killed in the war, she's got nobody but me and because I'm just a friend they're not letting me in with her."

"It's fucking stupid," Dean spat bitterly, "I promised I'd help and now she's in there all by herself!"

"Not much we can do though," the man said, "I'm Brad by the way," he held out his hand for Dean to shake.

"Dean," Dean said accepting it.

"So, Dean," Brad said, "What do you think your friend is going to have, a boy or a girl?"

"I dunno," Dean said with a shrug, "I haven't really talked about it with her much."

"Why not?" Brad asked curiously.

"She went through a bit of a tough time before," Dean said vaguely, "She doesn't like to share much."

Brad shrugged, "Fair enough, I guess."

"How long have you been here?" Dean asked, looking at Brad's dishevelled hair and clothing and the large bags underneath his eyes.

Brad looked at his watch, "Honing in on fifteen hours now."

"Shit," Dean exclaimed, "It takes that long to have a baby?"

"Apparently," Brad said, "You'd best get comfortable because you're going to be here for a freaking long time."

Dean didn't doubt him.

Dean was glad of the fact that Padma had immediately dropped everything to come and be with her sister whereas Lavender and Seamus had told Dean that they had to 'finish something' which, Dean assumed to be a heated make out session, before turning up at St Mungo's to wait with Dean.

That had been eight hours ago. Brad had long since moved inside the maternity ward to see his friend and her baby and Dean was bordering on sleep. Lavender had already curled up on Seamus' lap and was sound asleep, Seamus too was nodding off.

He couldn't help but wish that St Mungo's had let him in to be with her, even though he knew he wasn't going to be allowed. He had known that Parvati had wanted his help and needed it, and the hospital had taken that away from him. Dean vented his feelings by aiming a kick at an empty chair, which toppled backwards immediately.

Twelve long hours he had been here, and all the while there had been no news of any developments. There was a pattering of footsteps from inside Maternity and a woman came out, everyone in the waiting room sat up straighter. Dean prayed that it was Parvati.

"Mister Thomas," the healer said and Dean sighed with relief, it was finally over, "Miss Patil has been asking for you personally. One visitor at a time, I'm afraid." She said as Seamus and Lavender made to get up.

"If you will follow me," she said. Dean jumped to his feet, his heart pounding in his chest in anticipation. Now that it was over, he didn't know what to expect. Would Parvati be awake or asleep? Would she like having a kid or hate it? Would it be a boy or a girl? What would she name it? Everything that Dean hadn't wanted to force her to do was happening right now, whether they liked it or not.

He followed the healer down the row of beds to a bed with a curtain drawn around it. She drew it back to reveal Parvati sitting upright in the bed with a small figure cradled in a bundle of blankets in her arms. Both Padma and Parvati were looking on the baby with looks of joy and adoration on their faces. Dean's heart lifted at the sight of this, at least Parvati wasn't going to suffer post-natal depression… at least he hoped not.

"Parvati?" he said, looking at her with a smile on his face. She and Padma looked up from the baby and Padma immediately vacated her seat, mumbling something about going to get Terry and Isaac and promptly left.

"You alright," he asked, making his way over to her bed and sitting down.

"Never better," Parvati said and Dean could see how genuine her smile was and this was the first time she had felt this good in a while.

"Boy or Girl?" Dean asked, nodding at the baby in Parvati's arms.

"Boy," Parvati said, "Do you want to hold him?"

"I don't – no, he looks happy there with you," Dean said, hesitantly. He wasn't the best when it came to holding fragile things.

"Suit yourself," Parvati said, turning her attention back to her son.

"What are you going to call him?" Dean asked.

"Don't know yet," she said, "I like the name Daniel."

"That's a good name," Dean said, "A nice, strong name."

"You like it?" Parvati asked.

"If you like it, then I love it," Dean said, leaning down and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Parvati leaned over and said something to the healer, who nodded and walked off.

"She's getting the birth certificate for me to fill in. You sure you don't want to hold him?" she asked.

"Definitely sure," Dean said, he knew if that baby made its way into his arms somehow he would drop it. Parvati laughed slightly, as if she could read his thoughts as the healer returned with a sheet of paper.

"So his name is Daniel Patil?" the healer asked, looking at Parvati for confirmation.

"No," Parvati said, "His name is Daniel Thomas."

Dean looked at her in shock, questioning her decision, Parvati gave Dean a look that said trust me and Dean found that he did completely.

"And," Parvati said as the healer finished filling out the baby's name, "His father is Dean Thomas."

AN: Yay finally wrapped up! I'm sorry for dragging this out so long. This is the second last chapter! Wow this has flown by really fast! I hope you all liked the chapter and I'd love it if you could tell me what you thought in a review :)

DFTBA
Best Wishes

~The Original Horcrux~