"I told you I would be here for Christmas," he reminded and detached from her mouth only to brush his cold nose against the warm skin of her cheek. He tightened his arms around her and brought her closer to him and then slid his hands up underneath the fabric of her shirt to play with the warm skin of her belly.

"I didn't think you would actually come," she whispered.

He snatched her lips into another kiss and chuckled into her mouth. "Oh, I'll come, Granger."

"You're disgusting," she breathed into his mouth but kissed him anyway, pleasantly surprised by his appearance, regardless of the perverse, unorthodox approach he had taken. She had really not expected him to return after he had left seven weeks ago. Surely, he would not have wanted to raise suspicion with his parents and friends by ducking out on a holiday. With honesty, she imagined that he would not return inevitably. During those seven weeks, indeed, he had written her three vague letters about his doings and asked about the baby's health. She had never written him back because following the P.S, it would say in archaically beautiful quill-man-ship, I miss your devastatingly delicious arse.

"I know I'm a little late. It'll be Boxing Day in fifteen minutes. I'm…I'm sorry."

Something fluttered inside of Hermione, and she seized, her hands sliding up to his head and gripping him firmly as she kissed him deeply. They shifted beneath the bedcovers, Draco molding himself on top of her. He paused their kissing so he could reach behind him and grip the back of his undershirt and pull it over his head and toss it to the side.

"Your warm," he mumbled as his chilled skin touched the heated fabric of her night-shirt.

"You're cold," she said to him, the flat palms of her hands smoothing over his skin.

"I didn't want to Apparate in. I knew it would wake you and Scorpius, so I took the jaunt way here. And by the way," his hands found their way up her shirt again, his fingers flirting with the dips of her waist, "you feel good. The Post-Partum Aerobics class has done great things. I can tell. But not all is gone," he said as his hand slide between her bum and the mattress and squeezed a cheek.

"Pig," she yawned out and smacked her lips together.

"Darling, don't tell me you're too tired for a late-night, Christmas shag?"

"I'm too tired for a late-night, Christmas shag."

He groaned his dismay and leaned onto his left forearm with the majority of his body still covering hers, his other hand teasing circles on her tummy. "Granger, what are you wearing?"

"Hmm?" she noised sleepily.

"What are you wearing?"

"Oh." She looked down. "Flannel pajamas."

"They're hideous. I thought I bought you some nice sleepwear."

"Teddies and corsets are not nice sleepwear, Malfoy."

"I bought you nice, silk sleep dresses. I especially liked the green frilly one."

"It's too cold to wear silky night garments, and the baby likes my skin to be warm when he nurses. He fusses if my breasts are cold."

"There are some things to be said about warm breasts, indeed, but cold breast have-"

Hermione smacked on his arm and gave him a dirty look despite neither of them being able to properly see in the dark. "Please don't be crass."

"You like it."

"I don't." Hermione shook her head.

"You do," Draco sang lightly. "In fact, almost a year ago we were in a bed, not unlike this one. Remember? Remember all the nasty things you begged me to whisper in your ear?"

Hermione flushed with humiliation and lied, "No."

"And sometimes it wasn't even on the bed. The things you asked me to do to you on the dining table. I'm about eighty-five percent sure that was where Scorpius was conceived-"

A tiny whimper interrupted his rambling, and Hermione felt him still and then shift over her, watching his shadow climb off of her and go towards the bassinet.

"Speaking of," he whispered, a grin evident in his voice. "How's my little prince?"

A warm, gooiness pooled inside of Hermione, starting at the top of her chest and oozing down into her lower abdomen as she watched Draco's hands carefully dive into the bassinet and retrieve their son. She felt the dampness at her breasts, so she leaned over to the bedside table and flicked on the lamp.

"Look at him," beamed Draco while testing the baby's weight in his hands, bringing the whimpering bundle towards his face and planting a smooch on the infant's crown. "He's grown a bit since I last saw him. Cold breasts or not, he's being fed."

"I've done breastfeeding and the formula. I can't seem to produce enough milk for him. He takes all I have and wants more," Hermione explained and watched with a private smile as Draco held Scorpius close to him, finding it very sexy to watch him hold their son close to his naked chest.

"Well, of course he does. He's a Malfoy. Oh, and look. He's got my eyes," Draco announced proudly.

"He's got your everything." Hermione held out her arms towards him and the baby. "Give him here. He needs to be fed."

When Scorpius whimpers turned into soft, pitiful cries of hunger, Draco reluctantly handed him to Hermione and situated himself for the best view possible. He burst out laughing when the baby latched onto his mother's breast and began to loudly suck, grunting eagerly with each gulp.

"Oh, Merlin! He's sounds like a little pig," Draco guffawed and Hermione glared at him and lifted Scorpius' hand and kiss the small fingers.

"Don't say that about him. I think he sounds adorable, and we've already established you're the pig, Malfoy."

"A pig you made a little piglet with," he responded with a smirk and reached over and brushed the baby's thin, wispy, blonde curls.

"Oooooh! Piglet? That's kind of cute." Hermione smiled affectionately down at her suckling. "Will that be your new nickname, baby?"

"No."

"I didn't ask you."

"Scorpius is unable to defend himself against his cuckoo mother, so I must step in and take control of the situation like any decent father." Draco puffed up his chest and stuck up his nose like he was doing something noble. "If he shall go by another name besides his given, he shall be called…"

"Alex," Hermione finished. "I call him Alex."

"Alex?" Draco frowned. "Why?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's short for his middle name. Scorpius is kind of a handful to say and not particularly common. When I was young, way before I received my Hogwarts letter, many called me Jean. Scorpius is a fine name, but unless you want him to get teased in school…"

"No one would dare tease a Malfoy."

Hermione opened her mouth, about to explain to Draco that on the baby's birth certificate, it did say he was a Malfoy. However, when the time approached, on Alex's school transcripts, it would say Granger. She said nothing about it, though, but merely smiled in jest at Draco and brought up something else to lighten her mood.

"How about Button? I call him that sometimes, too. See how his cute little nose looks like a pink button."

"A nickname like that and he will grow up wanting to play tea parties."

"You do know I will call Alex whatever I please, right?"

"But I should have a say."

"You can call him whatever you please as long as it is not degrading or embarrassing."

"Says the woman who wants to call him Piglet," Draco muttered.

"Let's not argue about this." Hermione yawned. "Once Alex is fed and changed, I'm going back to sleep."

"No shagging?" Draco pouted and then glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Quick. Finish feeding Scorpius, change him, and we'll have time for a Christmas roll. We've got three minutes. I'm up for the challenge."

Yawning again and snuggling the baby closer to her chest, she said, "I'm really not in the mood."

"But it's Christmas," he whined and sat down beside her to pepper her cheek with kisses, combing her wild hair out of the way.

"I'm sure you've had plenty of presents already. For all I know, you could have already had your fill of things today." She avoided eye contact with him, keeping her gaze firmly on the baby. "You probably had your fill for weeks, actually."

"Granger-"

Hermione looked up at him, a question she had wanted to ask him since he left six weeks ago to go back to England. "What am I to you? A dirty secret?"

His brows cinched together and he frowned. "That's not exactly the term I would use for you, but I guess it has the same meaning. I thought that's what you wanted."

"I'm a secret, Malfoy. Not a dirty one, but is that how you see me? You house me and Scorpius, clothe us, feed us, and then in return, I let you into bed when you visit? Do have any idea what that sounds like?"

"A girlfriend with my son," Draco replied in a deadpanned tone.

Hermione shook her head and pulled Scorpius away from her to switch breasts. "I don't think 'girlfriend' is the correct term. You never asked me to be yours, and I'm not daft enough to think you haven't had companionship back home."

Draco opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head to stop him.

"I'm not asking if you had, but I want you to know that I'm not a mistress and certainly not a whore. It's not right I'm financially dependent on you. There is nothing in this room, with the exception of Alex, that is actually mine. All the clothes in the closet and dresser are things you paid for." She sighed dejectedly and cast her gaze back on her child. "I'm not going to be able to return to school next semester. I lost my scholarship, and I wasn't able to take my final exams because Alex got jaundice. I'm going to have to get a job, so I can start paying off my medical bills."

"I already paid those off," Draco interjected, a grin forming on his lips, "and if you want to return to school…"

Hermione shook her head again, her eyes hard and betrayed. "That was not right for you to do that. I-I'll pay you back as soon as-"

He growled and brought the heels of his hands to his eyes and pressed in. "I don't want your money, and you don't need to worry about finances. You don't have to work right now, sweetheart. You can be a mom. If you want to be a student, just send me the bill."

"No." Hermione glared at him, his offer plucking at her strings of temptation.

"Don't be stubborn, and don't be proud. Be realistic about this." Draco lifted his hand and traced her stony features with a caressing fingertip. "You can't do this on your own."

She pulled away from his fingers with a challenging glare and pulled Scorpius away from her chest and snatched his burping rag from the bassinet, placing it on her shoulder. "I can."

"Fine. You can, but at what expense?"

"I know I'll have to sacrifice some things," Hermione said while gently patting the baby's back.

"You'll have to give up everything. Don't make this harder than necessary. I will provide Scorpius with everything he needs as I see fit, but I want to provide for you."

"That's sweet, but no. I won't be in your debt."

"In my debt," Draco mocked and rolled his eyes and stood up to encircle his arms around her waist, a hand slipping down to pinch her bottom. She squirmed in his hold with a scowl which softened when he bent down and peppered soft kisses on Alex's little curly head. He inhaled his son's scent and smirked up at her with a knowing wink.

"You're not cute," she told him.

"Liar," he said and winked again. "Come with into the living room."

"I'm tired, Draco. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Don't be stubborn." He took her free hand and pulled at her arm.

Digging her heels into the carpet, she mumbled a high pitched, "No!"

"Yes, I want to show you something" he countered and tugged at her limb again.

"Do it in the morning."

"No. Now."

"No. Morning." She wrenched her arm away and snagged a diaper from the diaper bag next to the bed. "I have to change Scorpius."

"Then you will accompany me to the living room."

"In the morning, I suppose," Hermione replied lightly and laid Scorpius on the bed and began popping open the snap-buttons of his onesie. Before she took the sopped diaper off his bottom, she took a foot and playfully nibbled on his toes and feet, and lightly gasped in motherly amazement when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch up at her. It was still a little early for him to smile, but he was almost there.

"Mmmm! You're tasty." She removed the diaper and wiped down his cute baby tush and placed a clean, dry diaper on him. "You're just what Mummy needs for a midnight snack." Snapping all the buttons back into place, she picked him up and gently bounced him in her arms before placing him back into the bassinet. He whimpered up at her as she hurriedly fished into the sea of blankets to find his pacifier. Once she found it, she stuck it into his mouth and cooed down at him when his arms flailed in her general direction. Hermione snuggled him deeper into his special blanket, knowing he was missing the warmth and comfort of her body. The special blanket had been given to her by the hospital when she was discharged. The material was Charmed to feel and smell like her skin. Draco had thought it terribly creepy, and Hermione secretly had, too. Creepy or not, the Charmed blanket was the only thing that kept her son's tears at a minimal during the day and especially at night.

"You haven't tossed that frightening blanket?" Draco asked with revolt in his tone as he came up behind her and peered down at his son with a look of pure horror masked on his face.

"I'd like to see you sleep through the night without him having it."

"It's an abomination, Granger. It's positively disgusting. Besides, you're setting our son up for an unhealthy attachment to an inanimate object. As he grows, he may not want to part with it. He'll be one of those awkward children who refuse to leave home without it clutched in his grip."

Hermione pushed her brows together and craned her neck to see Draco's troubled and pensive expression. "Are you speaking from experience or are you making an assumption? Or both. Because I can certainly see you were definitely one of those awkward children who somehow Sticky Charmed themselves to their favorite toy. Knowing you, however, I'm not so sure it was a toy. It was your mother, wasn't it?" She smiled flippantly up at him and was surprised to find his face devoid of emotion and his eyes callously hard.

"I'll see you in the morning." He walked towards the door. "I'll sleep on the couch. I assume the extra blankets are still-"

"Malfoy," she called after him, guessing she hit a sore spot with him. She had forgotten how sensitive he was about his parents. "It was just a joke. I didn't mean it demeaning in any way. A lot of children, if they could, would stick themselves to their mothers."

He didn't spare her a glance but left the room and she hastily followed after him down the hallway. "Draco, come back."

When he stopped by the living room, he whirled around and gripped her arms and kissed her deeply. She muffled a 'what the hell' into his mouth and he snickered into hers. When he broke the kiss, he waggled his brows and smugly bragged, "I got you to come into the living room."

"Git," she spat and went to go back to her room, but he kept her there with grasp on her arms.

"Tut, tut, Granger. None of that now. Presents first and then we can shag."

"Presents?"

He gestured with his head for her to look to the right, and her tiny, artificial Christmas tree gleamed in the dimly lit room. Refusing to use to money Draco left her, she had gathered a few of her remaining coins and purchased a small Christmas tree as a present for herself to have some holiday cheer in the flat. A huge chunk of her remaining money had been soaked dry from diapers, formula, baby clothes and anything Alex needed. Draco's offering of further financial stability in the future was incredibly tempting. Unless she immediately found a job, she was not going to be able make it through the second week in January. And then if she did get employment, she would have to pay a caregiver for Alex, and Merlin knew how much that would cost.

Eyes dampening at the space beneath the Christmas that had been empty, her chin trembled at the boxes of perfectly wrapped gifts placed underneath and beside the tiny tree.

Something large and uncovered by festive wrappings caught her eye from the corner, and her breath hitched in emotional excitement.

A baby pram. Draco got her and Alex a pram.

"Draco!" She threw her arms around his neck and brutally smashed her lips against his unexpected ones. She climbed up his body and wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. And had he always been without a shirt? Mmmm! His skin was nice. Certainly, motherhood had not morphed her into a complete asexual being or completely immune to the attractive man who gave her a baby. How had she not noticed his lack of attire?