A Priceless Gift

Chapter 5

Three weeks later, Draco was at work trying to furiously scribble a case conference note that he had to get finished. He glanced at his watch again for about the thirtieth time in the last fifteen minutes and groaned in annoyance.

"Looking at it won't make it go faster, you know," Grace, Draco's personal assistant, said in amusement. She was sitting across the desk ensuring Draco's personal diary matched her own appointment schedule. "Why are you in such a hurry? Your writing becomes illegible when you rush. It gets all loopy and swirly."

"I have that appointment this afternoon," Draco mumbled distractedly.

"What appointment?" Grace's tone was accusatory. "You didn't tell me about any appointment this afternoon."

"Yes, I did. I scribbled out the afternoon in that diary thing on your desk," Draco argued and Grace smacked her lips.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You need to either email me or tell me to my face when you have appointments. I need to know where you are in case any of the bosses ask. Scribbling it out in the diary won't help me! I need to put it on the computer system so everyone can access it. I just thought you wanted the afternoon free to catch up on paperwork!" Grace scolded.

Draco gave her a guilty look. "I'm really sorry, Gracie. My mind has been in a hundred places these last couple of weeks. It's not a work related appointment, anyway. I have to go out of the office for a few hours," he told her.

"You have clients coming to drop things off to you this afternoon," Grace pointed out.

"They can leave them at the desk with you," Draco said. "Look, I'm really sorry about not making my appointment clearer, but it's important I go. Very important. Harry will kill me if work keeps me. He's coming in twenty minutes to pick me up, I have this stack of case notes I'm not going to get done before he comes, bugger it, and to top it all off, I've got a stomach ache, so I'm just... sorry, ok?"

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well?" Grace asked, looking hurt.

Draco sighed in exasperation. "Thank you for being a wonderful, caring PA. Normally, I probably would've mentioned it to you, but it's the least of my worries and there's nothing you could do about it."

"I have some Buscopan you could've taken," Grace argued. "It helps settle upset stomachs."

"Highly unlikely considering I feel like I'm about to puke at any moment," Draco mumbled, more to himself than Grace. I'd give anything for another stomach settling potion right now, he thought to himself. Even if it didn't work when I took it this morning.

"Draco!" Gracie admonished. "If that was me, you'd be insisting I go home immediately and have a week off! You're not setting much of an example for your staff."

"It's a stomach ache, Gracie, not the plague," Draco replied sarcastically. "And please, I'm going to have to tell Harry when he picks me up because he'll know straight away when he looks at me that I'm feeling off - he has this freaky sixth sense or something - and I'll get a lecture from him, so..." Draco trailed off before he rudely told his assistant to back off.

"Alright, alright," Grace relented and threw up her hands. "I won't nag. Do the bosses know you're away for a few hours?"

Draco nodded. "Yeah, Bill OK'd it," he said with another glance at his watch. "Bloody hell, I really have to go." He stood up and pulled on his jacket and shoved his keys, mobile phone, and diary in his briefcase before snapping it shut.

"Try and have a cup of tea or something! It will help your stomach!" Grace called to him as he rushed out of the office. Draco rolled his eyes and hit the button on the elevator with a sigh.

o o o o o

Draco slid into the car with a sigh. "Hi baby," he said and leaned over to Harry to give him a welcoming kiss.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Hello," he said suspiciously. "What's the matter?"

Draco shook his head. "Do I have flashing lights on my forehead that scream out when I'm not feeling well, or something? You are scary when you do that," he complained.

"You're not feeling well?" Harry asked immediately.

Draco shrugged noncommittally. "I've got an upset stomach, that's all," he murmured and turned to look out the window at the passing traffic. He pushed the button to lower the window a few inches.

"I've got the air conditioning on!" Harry argued.

"I just need some fresh air," Draco told him and breathed in a gulp of it, not caring that it was messing his hair.

"What sort of upset stomach is it? How long has it been there? Did you take anything for it? Why didn't you tell me?" Harry interrogated.

"For god's sake, Harry!" Draco cried. "It's been there most of the morning, I took a stomach settling potion this morning that did bugger all, I've told you now, and I have no fucking clue what sort of stomach ache it is! A pain-in-the-arse one! Happy?"

"Well, you're in a charming mood, aren't you?" Harry commented in bemusement.

"Bite me," Draco huffed.

"Gladly, but later," Harry tossed back. Draco gave Harry a sidelong glance and shook his head but Harry could see he was trying to stifle a smile. Harry reached over and patted Draco's thigh. "Cheer up a little, baby. We're about to find out if we are going to be parents!"

Draco didn't answer, but instead started frantically digging around in the glove-box. He pulled out one of the little blue bags they kept in there for rubbish and immediately hunched over and vomited into it.

"Draco!" Harry squeaked in surprise and struggled to keep his eyes on the road. He reached over and rubbed Draco's back in an effort to comfort his boyfriend. "Do you want me to pull over?"

"No," Draco choked out and sat up and wiped his mouth on a handkerchief he got from his pocket. "Keep your eyes on the bloody road. Are you trying to kill us?" He tied up the soiled bag with a sneer of disgust on his face and put it on the floor at his feet.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked in concern. "There are some mints in the glove-box."

"I feel like shit," Draco said and extracted the mints and put four in his mouth. They stopped at some traffic lights, so Harry reached over and felt Draco's forehead.

"You feel a bit warm, Draco," Harry told him.

"That would be from the effort of heaving my intestines up," Draco answered dryly. "I was not hot before I threw up."

"Are you alright to go to this appointment? I can call Hermione and tell her you're sick. She'll understand," Harry offered.

"I'm fine! I'm not missing this appointment. It's too important," Draco insisted. "I need to know. The suspense is driving up the wall."

Harry pulled into the car park and found a spot close to the door. Draco got out immediately with the bag in between his fingers and tossed it gingerly into a nearby rubbish bin.

"Let's go," Draco said and took Harry's hand.

o o o o o

Hermione sat in her Healer's office with Harry and Draco seated next to her. They were waiting for the Healer to join them and Hermione wished she would hurry up. She was desperate to know if she was pregnant and both Harry and Draco were a mess and neither had said barely two words since they arrived.

Hermione glanced warily at the couple. Harry was fidgeting in his seat, holding Draco's hand and playing with the ring on Draco's left ring finger. Draco was dressed in a formal deep blue suit and looked a bit out of place; he was slumped down in the seat with his head resting against the back of it. He was white as a ghost and a light sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead.

"Draco, are you ok?" Hermione asked in concern. "You look ill."

Draco swallowed heavily and glanced quickly at her. "I'm fine," he said huskily. Harry turned and smoothed Draco's hair away from his face and pressed a light kiss to his temple.

"Don't lie," Harry said softly. "He's lying. He was sick on the way over here. He looked like crap when I picked him up from work," Harry told Hermione.

"Thank you so much, dear boyfriend," Draco muttered sarcastically.

"Shit, Draco, you poor thing. You should've called me. I could have rescheduled this appointment," Hermione said sympathetically. "You go home. I'll drop over after and give you the news."

"No, we're here now. I'll be fine," Draco said, though he didn't sound too convinced himself. Harry put his arm around Draco and Draco dropped his head onto Harry's shoulder and closed his eyes tiredly. The Healer came in at that moment and sat down at her desk.

"Good morning! Hello, Hermione," the Healer said and then turned to Harry and Draco. "You must be Harry and Draco. I'm Healer Carlton, but please call me Jenny... oh dear, you don't look well, my boy," Jenny said to Draco.

"That's Draco," Hermione said, "and he's not. But he's the stubborn one and won't go home until he knows the results." Draco opened his eyes and glared weakly at Hermione.

"Nice to meet you, Jenny," Draco said softly and held out his hand. Jenny shook it and then shook Harry's hand.

Draco's mobile phone started ringing loudly from his brief case and he smacked his lips in annoyance and bent down with a weary grunt to retrieve it. "Hello, Draco Malfoy speaking... What? Why?... No, I can't; I'm in a very important meeting... Then he'll have to wait... No, Gracie, it's impossible. You'll have to tell him to wait..." Draco listened to his PA's answer and then looked at his watch with a sigh. "... At least an hour... Bloody hell, I told him it did... He's welcome to waltz down to the court and check... Get Graham to see to it... I don't know, Gracie. Look, I have to go... I can't give you an exact time... Alright...no...Please do. Goodbye." Draco pressed the button on the phone and threw it back in his bag with a huff. "I'm really sorry about that. One of my difficult clients is hassling my PA."

"Not a problem, Draco. We'll get this over quickly," Jenny said as she clasped her hands in front of her. "Congratulations, Harry and Draco, you're going to be daddies." Harry leapt out of his seat and squealed.

"Yessss!" Harry cried and jumped up and down.

"Really?" Draco squeaked in surprise. He had been expecting her to tell them that it didn't work. "We're having a baby...?"

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Harry said frantically. "A baby... oh my fucking god! I'm going to be a dad!" Draco reached up and took Harry's hand and gave him a watery smile. Harry knelt down in front of Draco and pulled him into a tight embrace.

They cried together for a little bit before Draco pulled frantically out of the hug with his hand pressed over his mouth. Jenny got up and quickly opened the door.

"Door at the end of the corridor, Draco," Jenny said quickly as the blond man raced past her. Harry went to follow Draco but Jenny stopped him.

"There's not much room in that toilet, Harry, you won't fit unless you leave the door open and I doubt Draco would appreciate our whole group of secretarial staff gawping at him while he's getting reacquainted with his lunch. Besides, if you help Hermione get the paperwork done to register the surrogacy with the Ministry of Magic, you can get him home and into bed sooner," Jenny suggested. Harry looked torn but nodded reluctantly with a sigh.

Harry bent down and hugged Hermione tightly. "Thank you so much from both of us, Hermione. We can never repay you for this." Hermione hugged him back.

"Bollocks, I don't want repaying. You'll be giving me a surrogate niece or nephew, what more could I want?" Hermione laughed. "I can baby-sit and give Baby Potter-Malfoy back at the end of the day. Suits me!"

As they took care of the paperwork, Jenny began explaining various aspects of the pregnancy to Hermione.

"Now, morning sickness may be the most bothersome symptom to you, since you plan to work right into the third trimester. You're three weeks along at the moment, so it could start at anytime and last into your second trimester, maybe even longer. All I can offer you for that, I'm afraid, is crackers and ginger tea. As this sickness is hormone related and unique to each woman, there has never been a successful potion developed. There are some, but they don't always work. Although, in saying that, you may get very little or even no morning sickness. Many woman experience little to no symptoms with their first pregnancy. It's very much subjective," Jenny said as she handed some fact sheets to Hermione.

"Oh yes, Mum got me the 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' book and I've read it right through. I'm sure I'll be fine," Hermione laughed. "If not, I'll go haunt Harry and Draco for awhile and they can take care of me!" It was a joke but Harry nodded seriously and Hermione just laughed harder at him and gave him a quick kiss on his temple.

Draco returned then looking awful. "I hate this," he croaked as he eased himself back into the chair. Harry took his hand and soothingly stroked the palm with his thumb, watching him closely in concern.

"What other symptoms do you have other than nausea and vomiting, Draco?" Jenny asked. She got up to get Draco a drink of water from her cooler.

"Nothing, I just feel really sick in the stomach." Draco took the cup gratefully and sipped the water. "Urgh, I never get sick. What is this? The stomach settling potion is useless."

"Do you mind if I take your temperature and do a quick check on you?" Jenny asked. Draco just shrugged noncommittally. Jenny took Draco's hand and held her wand to his palm.

"A slightly high fever but nothing serious. I can't see any indication of what is causing the vomiting. It may be a very mild food poisoning which wouldn't show up with this spell," Jenny advised. "Plenty of fluids, a lie down and a hot water bottle on the tummy are probably best in the first instance. You could try another potion, but if it didn't do anything the first time, it's probably not worth it. If you don't feel better in a day or two or you get any other symptoms, you should see a Healer. You're more than welcome to come see me if necessary."

"I'm taking you home," Harry told Draco firmly and stood up.

"I can't go home, Harry. I need to get back to work," Draco protested.

"You are not going back to work like this!" Harry argued and crossed his arms defiantly. "Get that fancy little mobile out of your briefcase and call Gracie back and tell her you're sick and you can't come back to work," Harry demanded. "NOW!" Draco pursed his lips and huffed through his nose but pulled his mobile out anyway. "You don't mind if we leave, do you Hermione?" Harry asked as Draco made the call. Hermione was scrutinizing Draco closely.

"Of course not. We're finished here anyway; I'm coming with you," she replied.

"You said you had to go back to work too," Harry said while he was helping Draco out of the chair.

"No, I said I might go back to work, not that I had to, which I don't," Hermione stated and Draco started to protest but she stopped him. "Besides, we should talk a bit about this. Like, how we should tell everyone, to start with."

"Ah shit," Draco groaned.

"Thanks for all your help, Jenny," Harry said as he shook her hand. "I'm sure we'll speak soon."

"Of course, and congratulations again," Jenny said warmly. "Hermione, I'll see you in two weeks for your first check up. I hope you feel better, Draco."