Coming slowly awake, Sirius tried to figure out where he was and how he had gotten there. Without opening his eyes, he listened to the sounds around him. He could hear voices from what he thought might be another room. They were muffled slightly and soft.
He thought he might still be at James’ and Lily’s. The last thing he remembered was sitting at the kitchen table drinking…Firewhisky.
“Well, damn,” he said quietly, “it got me again.”
“I’d say it did just that.”
Groaning at the laughing tone in Abby’s voice, Sirus opened his eyes. “How long have I been out?” he asked, not really wanting the answer.
“Oh, not too long… just long enough for Lily to get pregnant,” she answered. Giggling at his confused reaction, she rushed on. “Well, I guess that’s not exactly right. I mean, she was already pregnant, we just didn’t know. But, we do now.”
Sirius was still confused but he was also amused by Abby’s flustered ramblings. It reminded him of something…
“You always rambled when I was around. You never said what you meant the right way,” he said.
At Abby’s blush, Sirius chuckled. “So, Lily’s going to have a baby. Imagine that.” He sat up slowly, shaking his head as if to clear it. Sniffing the air, he realised he smelled something cooking.
“Lily’s cooking?” he asked. He stood up and felt only a momentary pain shoot through his head. He thanked whatever divine power that kept him from suffering any true after-effects of Firewhisky.
He turned and went into the kitchen. Sirius quickly took in the scene before him; James sat with Lily on his lap talking quietly. Remus sat looking at the both of them with what Sirius thought looked like jealousy.
Going over to them, he scooped Lily off James’ lap and into his arms. He looked down into her eyes and whispered, “I guess you didn’t tell him it’s mine, did you?”
Though he whispered, he made sure his voice was loud enough for James to hear. James laughed, however Abby, who had just entered the kitchen, stood shocked. She looked from Lily, who was still in Sirius’ arms, to James then back to Sirius and Lily.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” she said. “At least now, I understand why you had a guilty look on your face when you said James didn’t know.” Abby shook her head in disbelief, turned and walked out of the kitchen. Before any of them could react, they heard the front door slam.
“Damn,” said Lily. “Sirius, put me down. I have to go after her.”
Sirius gently set Lily on her feet but held onto her arm. Looking towards the door, he said, “No, I’ll go.”
James reached out and grabbed Sirius’ arm before he could move away. “I think it may be best if I go. After what we saw of Abby’s temper the other night, it could be dangerous for either of you.” James chuckled at the look on Lily’s face.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he said to her as he stood. He gently ran a finger down the side of her face before following Abby out of the kitchen and house.
*****
“Abby, wait,” James called to her as he started down the hill.
Abby slowed her steps but didn’t stop. She should have known one of them would come after her. She hadn’t wanted to Apparate home because as soon as she slammed the door, she realised she had probably overreacted. She had decided to go for a walk before going back to apologise for her temper.
“Abby,” James began when he caught up with her, “Sirius was only teasing.”
Abby gave James a small smile. “I realised that as soon as I walked out the door. It seems my temper got the better of me…again.”
James smiled. “Well, that is easy to understand when it comes to dealing with Padfoot. Come on, let’s go back. Dinner should be ready soon.”
Abby sighed. She knew she didn’t have much choice. But if there was one thing she hated worse than losing her temper, it was having to apologise for it when she lost it for no good reason.
As they walked back up the hill, she said, “So, you are going to be a daddy.”
She watched as a huge grin spread over James’ face. She could see the love and pride clearly but she could also see fear.
“You’re worried, though, aren’t you?” she asked gently.
“Terrified,” James admitted. “Not just about becoming a father, but…” James’ voice trailed off.
“You’re worried about the war, right?”
James nodded. “I can’t stop fighting, but is that fair to Lily…to the baby?”
“James, you love Lily and Lily loves you. She wouldn’t want you to stop fighting. She understands you can’t. You have to do the right thing. Making this world safe for your child to grow up in is not something to give up on just because it would be easy,” Abby said.
Abby could see James considering what she said. She was shocked to realise they had reached the front door of the cottage while they had been talking.
“You know,” said James as he reached for the doorknob, “I am quite enjoying watching you take on Sirius. Most of the girls he has dated just went along with whatever he said. I think it is good for him to have someone stand up to him. I also think it confuses him and he is feeling a bit uncertain where you are concerned.”
“He just brings out the worst in me. I’m not sure that is a good thing,” Abby said.
“Trust me, it is.” James opened the door and Abby confused over James’ comments followed him inside.
As they entered the kitchen, Sirius looked up at them. Abby could see he was waiting for her to say something. It was strange to her to see the look of uncertainty on the face of Sirius Black.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I overreacted. I don’t know why I did, but…”
Sirius stood and went over to Abby. He looked down at her face and put a finger on her lips to stop her from talking.
“Rambling again, Abby,” he said chuckling. “I am going to have to figure out a way to stop you from doing that so much.”
“I was not rambling, Sirius Black,” she said as she pushed his hand away. “I was merely trying to apologise. But since you don’t want to hear it, you can leave.” Abby stormed over to the table and sat down. She was determined not to lose her temper again.
Lily smiled at Abby. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t really believe I would ever be with…that one,” she said pointing to Sirius.
Abby laughed at the look of shock on Sirius’ face. Her temper cooled instantly. She saw Lily stand and watched as she swayed. She jumped to her feet but before she could do more than reach out her hand, James had caught Lily as she fell.
Abby followed closely behind him as he went into the sitting room and placed her gently on the sofa. His face was ashen as he looked down at her.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sirius asked, worry lacing his words.
“She’s pregnant, that’s all,” said Abby. “Go get flannel and run it under cold water. James, go get her a blanket out of the cupboard.” She chuckled as both men rushed to do as she instructed.
“What can I do?” asked Remus, concern lacing his voice.
“Go get her a glass of water,” she told him.
Going over to Lily, she sat down next to her. She saw she was beginning to wake up. “Shh, just lay still,” Abby told her. “You just fainted. I expect your little one didn’t like the tension in the room.”
Sirius came back, the cloth in his hand dripping water everywhere. Abby shook her head and took the cloth from him. Standing, she went back into the kitchen to wring out some of the water.
As she pushed the door open, it hit Remus who was coming from the kitchen carrying a full glass of water. The glass tipped and poured all down Remus’ shirt.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Remus,” she said.
“Its okay, Abby. Don’t worry about it,” Remus said reassuringly.
Abby gave him a small smile and went over to the sink to wring out the cloth. She grabbed the towel sitting on the counter and tossed it to Remus.
Grabbing it out of the air, Remus chuckled. “I don’t think this will help much,” he said. He began unbuttoning his shirt. “I’ll just go and grab a shirt of Jam-”
His voice broke off at Abby’s gasp. Glancing down at his chest, he quickly pulled the sides of his shirt together. His chest was a mess of scratches just beginning to heal.
“Wha...what happened?” Abby asked, her voice shaking.
“Full moon, two nights ago,” he answered and turned away. He rushed out of the kitchen and without saying anything to anyone in the living room, walked out the front door.
When she returned, James had Lily’s head on his lap, the blanket tucked securely around her. Sirius stood by the couch, looking as if he was as scared over this turn of events as James was.
“Where’d Moony rush off to?” asked Sirius as she approached the couch.
“He...I...” Abby tried to find the words to explain.
“Spit it out, Abby,” Sirius said.
“When I was going in to the kitchen, I hit him with the door. The water he was carrying spilled down his shirt.”
“So, he rushed out of here because his shirt got wet?” Sirius asked incredulously.
“No, he was going to get a shirt from James but when he unbuttoned his shirt...” Abby’s voice trailed off as she shuddered.
Sirius looked at James; understanding shown in both of their eyes. “I’m thinking his chest was all scratched up, right?”
“Yes, and I didn’t think...I asked him what happened,” she said in a small voice.
“Don’t worry about it, he’ll be back,” Sirius said to her.
Abby nodded and walked over and placed the flannel on Lily’s forehead before turning to Sirius. “Let’s go finish getting dinner ready. I think Lily needs to rest for a bit.”
Sirius nodded and followed her into the kitchen. “Is Lily really all right?” he asked.
“Yes. Fainting is normal when you are pregnant. I think she has been doing too much lately, too. Let’s get dinner finished so she can eat. Then, I think we need to go and leave the happy couple alone. I think maybe we should go and look for Remus. I feel so bad.”
“Don’t,” said Sirius. “Remus knows you didn’t mean anything with your question. In fact, once he thinks about it, he will realise you asked because you forgot he was a werewolf.”
“I hope so,” she said as she went over to the stove to check on the dinner Lily had already started.
“Umm, Abby,” Sirius said, hesitation in his voice, “I don’t know the first thing about cooking.”
Abby smiled. She had guessed as much. What would the great Sirius Black know about simple household stuff? “Well, you are about to learn because if you think I am going to take care of all the cooking while we are on our mission, you are sadly mistaken.”
For the next hour, Sirus Black learned more about making a meal than he ever wanted to.
Love Beyond Forever by mudbloodproud
Chapter Notes: I would like to thank my beta, Alyssa, (harry4lif) for all her work on this story.
I do not own anything you recogise in this story. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am just thankful to be able to play in her world for a little while.