FIC: Grown Up Things (3/3)

[leashy_bebes]

Series: Grown-Up Things (complete)
Chapter: Babies (3/3)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Everyone has to grow up sometime. Guess what? Fluff!
Notes: My friends are all having babies and applying for mortgages and getting grown up jobs. This is, naturally, v. unsettling, and I like to spread it around via fic. Also, I know it says that this is the last one, and that was my intention, but I’ve since realised I have more fics set before and after this that would fit quite well, so I may add to this.
Words: About 1700



"Evans, have you moved the sugar?" Sirius calls from the kitchen.

"Top left cupboard," Lily calls back. "James went nuts the other day and decided we needed to rearrange the whole house to make it more baby-friendly."

"James did?" Sirius laughs, setting up cups of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"He got bored halfway through, obviously."

"Ha, that sounds more like Prongs," Sirius says affectionately. "Hey, Remus got a new job on this newspaper that's just starting up - terribly liberal apparently. When you finally drop this sprog, we'll have a double celebration," he suggests. With a wave of his wand, the tea tray hangs in mid air before him, and he wanders through to the living room where Lily is sitting very straight in a chair.

"Did you see the Prophet?" Sirius asks. "Third page in, that break in at - "

"Sirius," Lily interrupts, her voice soft and low, and somehow terrifying. Sirius looks over at her with wide eyes.

"Wha - "

"Sirius, the baby is coming."

"N-now?"

"Soon, I think," Lily says in that frightening voice.

"I - oh fuck - " Sirius loses his concentration and the tray crashes down onto the table. Sirius in a strange blank moment, notices the biscuits going soft under the wave of hot tea. "Fuck, Evans, what do I do? Do we Apparate to Mungo's or - "

"No," Lily says with a hiccup of laughter. "Can't apparate like this. Too much risk of a splinching. James was meant to drive me, there's a - damn it, James should - "

"Oh, wait!" Sirius cries as he dives for his leather jacket, slung over the back of a chair. He fumbles with the pockets for a moment before pulling out his mirror.

"I've never been so glad you and my husband are such kids," Lily says faintly, as Sirius shouts James' name into the mirror.

"Prongs!" Sirius repeats urgently, until James' face appears in the mirror. "James, fuck, she's having the baby, James. The baby!"

In the mirror, James' face goes white. Then there is a crack and he appears in the middle of the room, the mirror gripped loosely in his hand. In two stumbling steps, he falls to his knees next to Lily and squeezes her hand.

"Did you just power straight in through the wards?" Lily asks.

"Uh-huh," James says dumbly.

"My hero," Lily says, touching her hand to his hair.

Sirius feels like an intruder until Lily looks at him and says, "Go and get the blue bag from behind our bedroom door."

Sirius takes the stairs two at a time and when he gets back down, James is hovering next to Lily.

"I can get myself into the car, Potter," she snaps at him. He watches her go, one hand pressed to the small of her back, before turning to Sirius and grasping the front of his t-shirt, sagging down a little as his knees buckle, and pulling the cotton out of shape, allowing himself a three-second nervous breakdown.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Padfoot. Baby. Fucking...baby. Now." James blinks fiercely behind his glasses, and Sirius thinks it's the closest he's come to seeing James cry in years.

"James!" Sirius says sternly. "James, come on."

"Right," James says, squaring his shoulders. "Right."

Sirius claps him on the back. James scrawls directions on a scrap of parchment and hurries out to the car, leaving Sirius to lock up and fix the wards James had shattered on his forceful entry.

Once that's done, he floos home, to find Remus up to his eyeballs in research for The Order.

"Guess what?" he asks.

Remus takes one look at him and says, "Lily's having the baby."

"Damn it," Sirius pouts, but he's secretly thrilled that Remus knows him so well. "Smart-arse."

"Ha. Of course."

"Why aren't you..."

"Having a fit?" Remus suggests. "Well she has been pregnant for nine months, Padfoot, having the baby then is kind of expected."

"Shut up. Come on, we need to let Lily's parents and Pete know, and then get to the hospital."

"Don't be daft, Sirius, they won't want us there."

"They do. Me and James talked about it."

"You, maybe," Remus says, oddly reluctant.

"No, Remus, both of us."

"Well...okay," Remus says, giving in inevitably.

***

By the time they get to the hospital, it's almost over, and after half an hour in the corridor, James bursts out, pale and bright eyed.

"It's a boy," he manages, before any further words are drowned out as Sirius collides with him, thrilled at the idea of a new generation of Marauders, and unspeakably relieved that there have been none of the dreaded Complications.

"Down, Padfoot," Remus quips, before offering his hand to James. "Congratulations," he says seriously, and then his eyes narrow wickedly and he adds, "Daddy."

James pales even further, but uses Remus' hand to drag him closer into the rough hug the three of them are suddenly sharing.

"Where's Pete?" James thinks to ask.

"Couldn't get away from work," Remus tells him. "He'll be here in a few hours. How's Lily?"

"Um...tired," James says in a measured voice. "She was threatening me with all kinds of horrible things earlier, but I think she was just a bit...fraught."

"Fraught," Remus laughs. "Oh, Jamie."

"Come on," James says, ruffling his hair, and slinging an arm around both of them and herding them towards Lily's room.

"You sure?" Remus asks.

"Of course. Family only though, so if any of the staff ask, you're my cousins."

Once they get into the room, all Sirius can see is the white blanket in Lily's arms, with a tuft of black hair sticking out of the top. She looks up at them with a radiant smile and James hurries to her side, reaching down with one finger to touch the as-yet unseen face.

"Hey boys," Lily smiles.

In the privacy of this room, Sirius feels wholly comfortable wrapping his arm around Remus' waist. Remus' arm comes up automatically and hooks around Sirius' shoulders. He kisses Sirius briefly on the temple, and although Sirius knows that Remus is vaguely amused at his reaction to the baby's birth, he also knows that Remus doesn't really mind.

"Go on, Harry. Go and meet your uncles," Lily says, passing Harry to James, who carries him across the room to Remus and Sirius.

"Here," James says, guiding Sirius' arms into place around the tiny, warm body. "Harry James Potter," he announces, before perching on the end of Lily's bed.

"Oh," Sirius breathes, all four of Harry's fingers resting on one of his own. "Oh." His fingernails are so small, Sirius thinks absurdly, looking down at bright green eyes and tufts of black hair. "He - I - oh."

"You alright, Padfoot?" Remus whispers into his ear.

"I - Oh, Moony."

"Anyone'd think you'd just squeezed him out, Sirius," Lily says from her bed. Sirius has never seen anyone look so worn out, and so blissfully happy at the same time.

"He's amazing," Sirius says, seemingly totally unaffected by Lily's comment, and the now thoroughly amused looks on James and Remus' faces. "You can't have him back," Sirius tells James and Lily defiantly. "I'm keeping him."

"Sure," Lily says easily. "As soon as he's sleeping through the night and potty-trained send him back our way."

"Heartless wench," James says, leaning across and stroking her arm.

"Tired wench," Lily counters.

"I think that's our cue to leave this little family alone for a while," Remus tells Sirius. "Bye-bye, Harry James Potter. See you in the morning."

Remus drops a kiss onto Harry's forehead and watches Sirius - after lots of kisses and gentle squeezes - pass the baby reluctantly back to Lily. She arranges the blanket more comfortably around the little body and exchanges a weary smile with Remus as James and Sirius share a lengthy hug, Sirius whispering something into James' ear that makes his arms tighten convulsively.

Outside the room, Sirius sags against Remus suddenly, nuzzling against his throat.

"Let's go home," he says softly.

Slightly puzzled, Remus leads Sirius to the floo in reception, and a few minutes later they're home. Sirius is on Remus as soon as they step out of the floo, pressing close against him and burying his face in Remus' neck.

"What's the matter?"

"Mmf," Sirius mumbles, seemingly content just to stand there, swaying slightly, with his face pressed to warm skin.

"Padfoot, what - "

"Oh Moony."

Sirius hooks a finger into Remus' belt and tugs him in for a gentle kiss.

"I love you," Sirius says against Remus' lips. "I love you and I want to be with you forever and I want a baby."

"You - " Remus can't help pulling back and looking down at Sirius in pure shock.

"Oh, fuck. I didn't mean to say that."

"A baby."

"Moony, just - "

"A baby."

"Remus - "

"You have had the birds and the bees talk, I presume?"

“Stop stalling, Remus. You know what I mean.”

“I – you – really? Really a baby?”

"Yes. One day. But I want you a lot more so don’t start thinking this is a demand or anything. Just - Don't you think... I can kind of see it, you know? After this stupid war's over, and we've had some fun for ourselves..."

"A baby," Remus says flatly.

"Stop saying it like that," Sirius protests. "I don't mean now. I just... When we've grown up a bit."

"I thought I was born middle aged?"

"Well..."

"And I thought you were never going to grow up."

"Well..."

"Padfoot, d'you really..."

"Really. God, really," Sirius says in a shaky voice. "I think it'd be perfect. A little house, and a little kid to love nauseatingly and spoil, and each other. What else would we need?"

"You're so..."

"Naive," Sirius chips in. "I know, you've said. So..."

"So. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Sirius asks, a smile curving his lips.

"I've never thought about this before," Remus says softly, twisting his mouth.

"But?" Sirius prompts.

"But... Maybe. Maybe one, one day."

"...really?"

"Don't you know by now that I'd do almost anything you asked me to do?" Remus laughs, his breath soft into Sirius' hair.