A/N: This chapter addresses pregnancy complications/scares in some detail. Please don't read this chapter if this is at all triggering for you.

Chapter 88

They were fighting.

Ron had realised that on the Saturday afternoon when they'd returned home from the bus. Not straight away, but after Hermione had ignored him for an hour or two, he realised that she really was upset with him, hence, they were fighting.

It was an infrequent occurrence these days. Sure, they had the odd dispute, but it was nothing like the constant niggling they'd done as teenagers. They were grown now, more mature, and they had the capacity to resolve any problems in a manner that reflected their age.

This was the biggest fight they'd had in a long time, and the worst part is, they weren't actually speaking.

He wanted to talk to her, to explain what had happened, but she hadn't given him the chance to. Every time he came near her, she'd walk away without even looking at him. He'd even called her back once, asked her to talk to him, but she'd just said she wasn't ready and had left the room.

So he'd waited. He'd waited until Sunday afternoon, hoping that a good day of giving her space would work. It hadn't, though she did say a few words to him on that day — mostly necessities, like how that phone call that had just come through was the store telling her that the delivery time was now between eleven and three.

Even at night she left as wide a gap between them in the bed as her pregnant belly would allow. It was difficult these days trying to make room. In an attempt to get her speaking to him — to say anything — he'd joked about needing a bigger bed.

He should have known that wouldn't have gone down well. It probably wouldn't have even if she had been speaking to him.

Monday was okay, because it was a work day and they didn't usually see each other anyway. Though she still didn't speak in the morning, the day itself felt quite normal. But by the evening, after dinner, Ron had had enough. He knew he needed to apologise, to explain to her what had happened. And he now had the words to do it, even if they wouldn't be as eloquent as what she maybe could have said. But it was enough for her to understand.

He hoped.

He'd spent that evening in the living room alone. The TV ran quietly in the background, but he wasn't really watching it. Hermione had taken herself to bed earlier than usual, mumbling something about feeling tired. Ron suspected it was her excuse to avoid him, perhaps sensing his desire to speak, but he'd simply nodded and watched her go.

He did need to speak to her. This couldn't go on.

It was less than ten weeks until the baby's due date. It seemed like a long time, but it really wasn't. Ten more Saturdays would pass before they might expect their daughter to arrive. Hermione was known to hold grudges, as was Ron, so he had to sort it out now before it got too much.

A soft light poked out from under the door of their bedroom. Hermione must have been reading beneath her wandlight. She no doubt had another baby book in her lap, ensuring that she was well versed in what might happen at the birth. It hadn't escaped Ron's notice that as that date drew nearer, the more tense she seemed to get. He'd wondered on occasion if she was frightened of what was to come. She'd never said anything if she was.

He pushed the bedroom door open slowly and poked his head in. But she wasn't reading. There was not a book in sight. And upon seeing him enter the room, she climbed off the bed quickly.

"Hermione, please —"

"Ron, I think there's something wrong with the baby." She spoke breathlessly, panic rising with every word. She came over to him, looking up at him with something bordering terror.

All the words Ron had been about to say left his mind. "What?" he asked, choking on the word. "What's wrong? What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. The baby… she has been very quiet all day today. Not moving anywhere near as much as she usually would. Dinner time is usually when she is really active, and she wasn't at all. I've barely felt her move much in the last few hours — just the odd one here and there."

"What does that mean?" Ron asked, fear taking over in the moment. Hermione looked worried, terrified, even, and that scared him. He was an outsider in this pregnancy. He had no idea what was going on, on a day to day basis. It had bothered him often, but he'd accepted it. Now…

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know," she said softly. She looked close to tears. "I think… I think we should go to the hospital."

"Okay," Ron answered without thinking. "Let's go now. We'll use the Floo." He took her hand and led her from the room. Hermione didn't put up any fight to follow, but she was quiet as they made their way downstairs, Ron still clutching her hand tightly.

Was this why she had been quiet tonight, and not because she was still upset with him? Had she been fretting over this all day, unsure on whether or not something was off and not knowing if she should say anything or act on her concerns?

Ron had been so lost in his own thoughts to have even noticed that she was troubled. She had mentioned on more than one occasion that the baby was most active around dinner time. Sometimes she'd even complain that the baby would start digging her feet into her ribs just as she would be about to eat, or Hermione would have to pause briefly until the baby readjusted herself. They'd laugh over it sometimes, joke that their daughter was going to be a good eater because she seemed excited about food.

Now…

They reached the fireplace and Ron wasted no time in grabbing the Floo Powder from the top and igniting the fireplace with green flames. Someone would be stupid to not have St Mungo's linked. Even though neither Ron nor Hermione had required it before, it was always handy to have it there just in case something happened.

Something like this.

He was scared. Terrified, in fact. He had no idea what was going on or what it meant. He didn't know anything, but that frightened him. What if their baby was dying? What if she was sick? St Mungo's didn't have the capacity to care properly for healthy newborns, so he doubted if something was wrong they could do anything.

He'd read in a Muggle book that Muggles could save small babies — ones that were born early. But… they were going to St Mungo's.

"You go," he said quietly to Hermione, stepping back so that she could get in. "I'll be right behind you."

Hermione did as he said, nodding. She was pale. He'd not seen her so scared in all the years that he'd known her. It was her he usually turned to for comfort and clarity. If he didn't understand something, she'd usually have an answer. But this time… this time she seemed just as lost as he was.

Hermione disappeared via the Floo and Ron did as he promised, stepping in less than a moment after she'd gone. It was no longer than any other Floo trip, but it felt like it was. He whipped through other grates in slow motion until he finally felt his feet hit the ground. He stepped out, finding Hermione waiting there for him. She hadn't even bothered to dissolve the ash from her clothes or face.

"Come on," Ron said, taking her hand again. He led her into the waiting area and up to a desk with a young wizard sitting behind it. He had a long scroll of parchment in front of him with at least twenty names there already.

"Please, is there a Healer around?" Ron asked, knowing he sounded desperate. Pleading.

"There's multiple Healers," the wizard said. "There's also twenty-three people waiting."

"This is an emergency," Ron insisted. "A real emergency. It's… it's…" He turned to Hermione, who had not spoken a word since their bedroom. If possible, she'd turned even paler, looked even more worried. "It's our baby," he said softly.

The wizard was very unsympathetic for their plight. He just shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't —"

"Ron? Hermione?"

Ron turned at the sound of his name and immediately felt a wave of relief when he saw who it was. He left the wizard at the desk and dragged Hermione with him towards Seamus.

"It's Hermione," Ron said, almost shouted, at his friend. "There's something wrong with the baby. Please…" The last word was strangled, pained. He wasn't even acting, or exaggerating to convince Seamus they needed to be seen before everyone else. It was his fear speaking — more fear than he'd ever felt, including when he was in the baby store on Saturday.

Seamus looked between them, his eyes lingering on Hermione. "I-I… it's not my speciality," he said. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

"The baby… she's not moving."

This seemed to alarm Seamus. "At all?"

"No… I mean, yes. I mean, she is, but not much."

Seamus nodded. He glanced at the waiting patients around him. Ron saw someone with a very long nose that was nearly touching the floor and another with tree stumps for legs.

Seamus then turned back to them and indicated that they follow him. "Just come in here," he said, opening the door to a room with three beds. Only one was occupied. "Wait here. I'll be with you in just a moment." He left.

Hermione sat on one of the unoccupied beds and Ron sat beside her, putting an arm across her shoulders.

"It'll be alright," he said, only because it was something to say. "She'll be okay. We've come this far. It'll be okay." He squeezed her shoulders and felt Hermione sink against him. He kissed her temple just as Seamus re-entered with some parchment.

"Lie on the bed, Hermione," he instructed.

Ron jumped up so that Hermione had space, taking her hand as comfort. "It'll be okay," he said again.

Hermione laid her head against the pillow and Ron saw a few tears at the corner of her eyes. He gave her hand a squeeze, wishing he could do more.

"How is the baby feeling now?" Seamus asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Just the same."

"No worse?"

She shook her head again.

Seamus nodded. "So, still moving, but just not as much?"

"Yes," Hermione replied shakily. "I mean… she hasn't moved since I've been here." The last part of the sentence came out as a sob.

Ron looked at Seamus. "Is there something you can do?"

Seamus took out his wand. "As I said before, this is not my speciality. I am trained in treating long-term ailments in our long-term residents' ward, and like any Healer, treating simple cuts and abrasions, but the other Healers are all occupied. There's a handful of spells I can do to check everything, and it will tell me all I need to know. Ron, take a seat." He flicked his wand and brought a chair in the corner over to Ron.

Ron sat down, still clutching Hermione's hand.

The first spell Seamus did was one Ron was all too familiar with — the heartbeat spell. To his utter relief, it sounded just as he'd heard it every other time. Strong, fast and healthy. He squeezed Hermione's hand. "I like that sound," he said quietly.

"That's promising," Seamus said with a nod. "I'll now just cast a spell that will track the movements for fifteen minutes. We'll be able to get a clear indication of what's happening with that." He picked up one of the pieces of parchment he'd brought with him and tapped it with his wand. He then performed a spell Ron hadn't seen before, but whatever it was doing, it was sending information directly onto the parchment.

Seamus smiled slightly. "The Muggles have something similar, but with machines, not magic. Some Healers here, myself included, we've been studying Muggle medicine and adapting it. Muggles actually know a lot about Healing and have a lot of cures for ailments foreign to the wizarding world." He held up the parchment to show them a bunch of squiggly lines. "These lines, they track what the baby's doing. Every spike, it means the baby's moving. It's heart rate is increasing." As he spoke, there was another spike on the line.

"Is that good?" Ron questioned. "I mean —"

"Yes," Seamus said, "we look for a pattern and so far so good."

Ron nodded and smiled weakly at Hermione. "Maybe she's just sleepy today. I know I am."

Some colour had returned to Hermione's cheeks. She was staring at the parchment Seamus was holding, relief flooding her eyes.

"Look, there's another spike," Seamus said. "Hermione, is this slow movement usual?" He sounded rather surprised.

Hermione shook her head. "Ever since you started the spell, it's like she's woken up or something."

Seamus nodded. "There's speculation that they can sense this spell and it's slightly uncomfortable for them. Can't be sure, though, as no one can ask the baby."

"The baby can… feel it?" Ron asked.

"It doesn't hurt them," Seamus assured him. "Just a different sensation for them. Here's another one."

Hermione looked at Ron, a smile on her face now. "She's moving so much now. All over the place."

Ron returned her smile. "See? Everything's going to be okay. She's fine."

They waited for the full fifteen minutes, Seamus showing them every time there was a spike in the heart rate or movement from the baby; though, Hermione felt it and told him every time she felt something.

She looked relieved. Colour had completely returned to her face and she was lying on the bed, relaxed and talking now.

Ron was also feeling relieved. But it had brought a lot of things into perspective for him. He was worried about being a bad dad, but what if things had gone worse tonight? What if he'd lost the chance to be a dad at all? At least with a baby, he could learn to be better.

"Hermione, I think everything's fine," Seamus said, removing the spell. "This reads perfectly."

"I feel kind of ridiculous now," Hermione confessed, sitting up from the bed slowly. "As soon as I got here, as soon as you cast that spell, it was back to normal…"

"It's better to come and see someone, I think," Seamus said. "Then not at all. I've been pushing for a better maternity facility here, but to no avail. Ridiculous, if you ask me. It's as if they don't believe anything can go wrong with magical babies."

"That," Ron said, offering a hand to Hermione and pulling her up from the bed, "is a lie."

"You don't need to convince me," Seamus said. "You're not the first I've seen, and you're not the last."

"Thanks, mate," Ron said. "Really appreciate it. You know… seeing us, with all that lot out there waiting."

Seamus shook his head dismissively. "'That lot' out there are products of misfired spells or potions. Nothing that will kill them. I'd rather treat those people with potential life threatening issues than… idiots."

Ron laughed.

"Don't tell anyone I said that," Seamus added quickly.

"Thank you, Seamus," Hermione said.

Seamus inclined his head in acknowledgement and then used his wand to open the door.

They were halfway down the corridor when Ron stopped, remembering something Dean had told him a few weeks back. He turned back round. "Our kids will be going to school together, won't they?"

Seamus smiled and nodded. "You just worked that out?"

Ron grimaced.

"Oh, when is Lavender due again?" Hermione asked. They'd both known for a while that Seamus and Lavender were expecting a baby.

"March," Seamus answered brightly. He beamed at them.

Taking Hermione's hand, Ron led her down another corridor towards the hospital's Floos.

…

When they got home, Hermione sat down on the sofa, looking mentally exhausted from their little night time adventure. She ran her hands over her face and fell back against the seat, sighing.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked. He stood in front of her, unsure on whether or not to join her. Although the last hour they had been talking, he didn't know if things were now going to go back to how they'd left it, before their scare.

Hermione looked up, sighed again, and nodded. She then patted the space next to her. "Sit," she said.

Ron obeyed, though he was tentative. Was she just after comfort, or was she ready to forgive him? He couldn't tell — she seemed too tired to be either.

"You were really great tonight," she said, smiling at him.

"What?" Ron almost laughed. "Great? I was a mess. Trust me, I was freaking out."

"You didn't show it," Hermione said. "I… I didn't know what to do or say, but you just went with it. I know… I know you were scared, too."

"Yeah, terrified," Ron said. He rubbed her leg and finally chanced returning her smile. "But… it's all okay now, isn't it? Just sleepy, wasn't she?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes… it just really puts things into perspective, I think."

"What do you mean?" Ron frowned, sliding across the sofa so he could be closer to her.

Her eyes flicked up and Ron noticed guilt in her expression.

"Hermione?"

"I think I'll start wrapping up with work a little sooner. You know… a bit before Christmas. Maybe I'm overworking myself a little bit too much."

Ron snorted and Hermione smiled.

"You? Never."

"How do you feel about that?" Hermione questioned.

"I think it's the smartest idea you've ever had, Hermione, and you have had many brilliant ideas."

Hermione nodded, thoughtful. She was probably planning her last few weeks at work, who she was going to put in charge — unfortunately, it was most likely going to be Malfoy — and then wondering how else she could busy herself once she was supposed to be resting.

Ron took this as his chance.

"Hermione?"

She looked back at him, questioning.

Ron sucked in a breath. "About… about what happened on Saturday. When we were shopping…"

Hermione's eyes bore into him. She was expectant, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm sorry."

It took Hermione a moment to respond. They had just gone from one topic to another very quickly. Ron wondered if she'd even momentarily forgotten that they'd been fighting after everything else that had happened in between.

When she spoke, she didn't sound angry or upset. Just confused. "What happened?"

Ron shook his head, taking her hand. "I dunno. I just started to think about it all. How close it was getting, how real having a baby is… I thought… I thought I was going to make an alright dad. You know, not the best, but I thought it would be okay. I thought I had it under control. But I didn't even know about a lot of that stuff. I didn't know a baby needed any of it, so I panicked. Completely lost it. I kept thinking that if I didn't know our baby needed a… pram… then what else didn't I know? I was scared. Really scared."

Again, Hermione said nothing.

Ron shook his head. "It was stupid," he said. "I got over it pretty quickly, but you weren't talking to me so I didn't know what to do or say. I'm… sorry."

"Ron… you're not going to be a bad dad at all," Hermione said. "Why would you think that?"

Ron shrugged. "I just got caught up in a moment of doubt, is all. I'm sorry. I know I left you to do everything on your own. It's just a lot to take in. I don't think it helped that we were in a Muggle setting, either. You know I'm not completely comfortable there yet. Especially in unfamiliar places. Like, I can get pizza from the place down the road, but that…"

For the third time, Hermione didn't answer straight away. She watched him, her mind working things through her head. Briefly, her free hand moved to her stomach.

"Everything alright?" Ron questioned.

"Yes," Hermione said quietly. "She's wriggling around so much now. Making a liar out of me."

Ron smiled, then said, "I know you're going to be great at this whole parent thing, Hermione. You've got it under control already. I… I just want to be able to do the same. Teach me along the way. Please? I want to be the best dad I can for her. I don't want to anything wrong."

"You will," Hermione said softly, and Ron felt his heart sink. "We're going to make mistakes, Ron. Both of us. And I certainly don't have it under control. You saw me not even an hour ago —"

"You were scared."

"So were you."

"Maybe more scared than I was in the Muggle baby store," Ron confessed.

"Listen, Ron, I thought I'd done something to upset you that day. And I was quite annoyed that you just walked off and left me to finish it off, but I get that you were frightened. I get that it might be overwhelming — terrifying, even. Perhaps I should have prepped you some more, shown you some pictures of everything first." She smiled. "You'll be a great dad. Don't doubt yourself. You handled what happened today amazingly, and I saw how much you cared. About me, about our daughter. That love we have for her already — it's going to get so much stronger once we finally meet her.

"Besides, you don't think I'm not having moments of panic over having a baby?"

Ron shook his head. "You seem so relaxed most of the time."

"Oh, no." She laughed. "There are many moments throughout every day where I start worrying about things. I'm scared about what will happen at the birth — will I cope? I'm scared about us being alone with her for the very first time, or if something goes wrong. I'm absolutely terrified of having to leave my baby in the care of someone else while we have to work. Even if it is my parents, or your parents, or someone else we trust. But… those are all things that come with parenthood, aren't they? Worry?"

"I guess," Ron said slowly. "Have you ever worried about being good at it?"

"All the time," Hermione answered almost instantly. "There are whole days where I ask myself just what I've gotten into." She squeezed his hand. "But we can handle this. We've handled a lot scarier things than a baby before."

Ron laughed. "I dunno about that, Hermione. Babies are pretty scary. Do you remember Dominique she she was born? When her hands clasped around your hair and it took both Bill and Fleur to get her off?"

"We'll be the best parents we can be, Ron. It may not be the best, but it'll be enough. Whenever I worry, I just try to remind myself that I'll do the best I can do and she will be fine. She will have a house, a place to sleep, food, she'll be so very loved. That's all she really needs. The rest… it's just because we can."

"I can do the love part," Ron said. "The rest might take some time."

"You'll be the best dad for her," Hermione assured him, smiling. "Didn't I tell you once before that it felt so good to be loved by you? I'm sure our daughter will share my sentiments."

"We still don't have a name for her yet," Ron then said. "It's less than ten weeks now —"

"We'll think of something," Hermione replied, and she stood up from the sofa, albeit with a little struggle. "But for now, I need to go to bed. All that stress has exhausted me."

Ron also stood up, placing a hand on the small of her back. "Is the baby still moving?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Constantly now," Hermione said and she smiled. "I probably won't be able to sleep at this rate."

"Well, that's good at least. And, I really am sorry for what I did the other day. It was stupid of me. But…" He paused, remembering for the first time the bodysuit he'd bought without Hermione seeing. He'd snuck it into the bag, put it amongst the hundreds of things they'd bought that day.

"What?" Hermione said.

"I have to show you something," Ron said, and he took her hand and practically dragged her into the hall and up the stairs. He opened the door to the baby's room, which was currently a mess of boxes and other things. He dug into the bag he'd dumped on Saturday afternoon and pulled out the outfit and held it up.

"But then I saw this, and even though I don't know what our baby is going to look like yet, I thought that she might like this, or look cute in it. I dunno, I saw it, and it kind of brought me back to what was important. Which is her."

If she wasn't so tired and pregnant, Hermione looked as if she might have jumped on him where they stood. Instead, she just looked at him with deep affection and smiled.

"I don't even know if I got the right size, but —"

"It's perfect, Ron," Hermione said, and this time she did come at him, albeit it was getting more difficult as the weeks went on. She kissed him. "You're forgiven," she then added. "Just don't do it again, okay?"

"Never," Ron promised.

As Hermione snuggled against him, leaning up to kiss him again, Ron felt the strangest of sensations that took him a moment to realise it was the baby pushing against Hermione in what, to him, felt like a desperate attempt to escape her confinements.

He chuckled. "We're going to have our hands full, aren't we?" he asked.

"Probably," Hermione replied. "She is half me and half you."

"I can't wait until she's here," Ron said.

"Neither can I," Hermione answered. "Neither can I."

Ahh, sorry! I suck. I haven't abandoned this fic by any means. Time just got away from me haha! It's February already. How did that happen?

I've also been working on a bit of a side hustle where I've been making and selling bookmarks, postage labels and penpal/writing sheets. So, time for a self plug. If you want to check out what I have, I have a private Facebook group called Lavender and Plum Designs (you can request to join, and I will approve. Trust me, I won't know who you are lol) or I'm on Etsy with SOME designs as LavenderandPlumAU for only digital PDFs).

Anyway... I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to be more timely with my next update :)