Relief

Lily hates when James is away, especially now that she's off active Order duty. She wants to keep fighting, of course, but everyone pitched a row at the idea of a pregnant woman fighting Dark wizards. Especially James. He wouldn't hear of it. And neither would anyone else.

"You can help keep us organised from home, Lily," Dumbledore had said. "You'll be back to active duty soon enough - don't let war spoil this precious time for you."

So she's sitting at her kitchen table, as close as her swollen belly will allow, poring over maps and intelligence reports and attempting to make some sense of them. The baby's restless, kicking and punching her insides like someone's twisted idea of a funhouse, and it's hot. She can't get comfortable and she wishes James were there, to rub her aching back or... other things. She'd never admit it, but something about being pregnant makes her crave his attentions more than ever, even if it isn't always comfortable. It's hormones, she knows, but it doesn't help that James seems to be gone more than usual lately.

Giving up on the reports, Lily goes to the living room and lies on the couch. It's cooler in there, because it's dark, and she relaxes a bit, propping her swollen feet up on a pillow. The baby seems to like this position better, and he stops punching her so violently, only giving her a lazy poke here and there. She closes her eyes, resting her hands on her belly, lazily moving them over the thin fabric of her dress. She's about to drift off to sleep when there is a whoosh and a thump and Sirius falls out of the fireplace.

If Lily weren't so heavy, she would have likely fallen off the couch. As it is, she only lets out a startled squeak.

"Sirius!"

"Er, sorry to startle you," he says, dusting himself off, "but I told James I'd check on you while he's gone." He shakes the last of the soot from his hair and crosses the living room in three long strides, flopping down on the edge of the couch at her feet.

"I don't need checking on," says Lily, struggling to sit up. She's mortified to find that she cannot, in fact, get herself off the couch in any dignified manner, and so she sinks back onto the pillow with an annoyed huff.

"Sure, Evans, whatever," he replies teasingly. Then he sobers. "You look tired."

"Maybe a little," she admits.

"It's getting close now, then?" he asks. The baby gives a sharp push just under her bellybutton, so hard that Sirius can see the bulge, and he stares. "Doesn't that hurt?"

Lily shakes her head. "It doesn't hurt, exactly, but... " There's another prod, and Sirius is still staring. "Go on, you can touch."

He watches for a moment, then puts his hand palm flat just below her bellybutton, and she covers it with hers. "Push there, just a bit," she instructs, and the baby immediately pushes back.

Sirius grins. "Wicked," he breathes, and his hand follows the baby's movements around her stomach. She sucks in a breath, because he's sliding his hand over her belly and it feels good.

"Whoa," he says after a particularly energetic push from inside. "Strong kid you've got there."

Lily shifts a bit on the couch, but it makes her dress creep up her thighs and she's not really sure if she minds or not. It does make the baby settle; he stops his shoving, and she expects he's gone to sleep. Sirius, however, doesn't take his hand away.

"Does it hurt?" he asks, more quietly this time, and she doesn't think he's talking about the kicking anymore.

"Sometimes," she says, and she isn't talking about the kicking either.

"I'm sorry," he says in return. There are buttons down the front of her dress, and his hand lingers over one of them, at the high curve of her stomach. He toys with it, and she doesn't stop him, because James isn't here when she needs him to be and she can't help herself.

He starts in the middle, sliding the buttons through the holes with one hand, as if he's done it a thousand times. She panics for a moment when she remembers she's wearing not only a maternity dress but maternity underthings as well, and she's mortified that he'll see them because they are truly hideous; but when he has her dress open to what used to be her waist, (when she had one), he doesn't comment on it. He flicks the catch in the middle and pushes it away, and slides off the couch to kneel on the floor beside her.

Lily doesn't realise how much her breasts ache for touch until he touches her, but they do and she whimpers a little. Sirius's hands are larger than James's, and cooler, and they feel wonderful along her hypersensitive, overheated skin.

Sirius nuzzles the side of her neck, whispering, "I don't know how James can stay away from you, Evans," and she feels a momentary stab of guilt that she pushes away, because she needs him and he isn't here, and so Sirius will have to do.

He's undone all the buttons down her dress, and the flimsy fabric falls away under his hands. His hand brushes over her bare belly, sliding the hideous knickers down as he goes. Lily feels as if her skin's stretched too tight, hot and tense all over, and not just her belly, ready to shatter at just the right sort of touch. Sirius isn't in a hurry, and she begins to feel soft and lazy under the soothing motion of his fingers across her skin. She forgets her aching back and tired feet and relaxes into his touch, almost dozing off until his fingers dip between her thighs. He kisses along her lower belly, nuzzling her skin, making her want to arch into his touch, to push against him, but she's so heavy and slow all she can do is sink back into the couch and moan.

Sirius doesn't stop there, and she stuffs her knuckles in her mouth to keep quiet. James hasn't done this since she began to show; she thinks it must bother him, and she doesn't complain, but she misses it all the same. Sirius doesn't seem bothered in the slightest. He goes slowly, taking his time, and she can feel the tension slowly building, pooling between her thighs, in her belly, and all over. Because there is so much more of her now, soft and ripe and full, the sensation is more intense, and when it finally hits her she thinks her heart stops for a bit, because no one can feel this much and stay sane.

He gives her a moment to catch her breath; she's almost afraid to open her eyes until she feels him slide off the couch, pulling her dress over her and closing enough buttons to make her decent again. He brushes back her hair, smiling. "I told James I'd take care of you for him," he says, and she knows it is genuine. "I could stay if you like, unless you'd rather...?"

"Yes," she says, and lets him help her up. "I don't want to be alone."