Baby on Board

Disclaimer: I hate disclaimers, but I hate lawyers even more, so I'm going to say it: I'm not J. K. Rowling and I own nothing.

Thank you, saiyanwizardgurl from www.fanfiction.net, for this betaed version of Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On Saturday, Sirius woke up at five o'clock in the morning. He padded quietly to Angela's room, pressed his ear to the door and smiled - the absence of noise meant that she was still sleeping. To be sure that everything was fine without waking her up, he muttered a "Mufliato" and then opened the door soundlessly and poked his head inside the room.

From his place, he could see the pale oval of her sleeping face in the darkness. He could not see any details but the still pose of her body made him sure that she was probably having a nice dream. Sirius could almost picture her in his mind - the dark hair falling on the pillow, the smile on her face that he had not seen in weeks. In her sleep, Angela seemed so young and vulnerable, and so different than the furious creature that she was when she was awake. Sirius looked at her for a couple of minutes, knowing it was his only chance to be in the same room as her without a quarrel.

The darkness soon became dusk, although it was still quite early in the morning. Sirius went to the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. While pulling the curtains back so he could look at the rising dawn, he saw James approaching the block of flats. So early in the morning?

Two minutes later, James and Sirius were sitting on the table, holding cups of tea in their hands. "I thought you would be awake before dawn," James said. "I hope that Voldemort and his Death Eaters are not enjoying a peaceful sleep either," he added bitterly.

"Angela is so restless and I'm so troubled with the latest attack that I can't remember the last time I had an eight-hour sleep," Sirius agreed.

"How is she?"

Sirius shrugged. "She gets tired easily. Last Friday, we went to the cinema, and she fell asleep during the movie. And she's so nervous." He sighed. "It became worse after the attack on St. Mungo's. And I don't suppose it helps that she never knows when I'm going to be home, and that even when I'm here with her, we're quarreling all the time."

"Things will ease up a bit after the childbirth," James consoled him.

"Will they?" Sirius asked skeptically. "Somehow, I don't think that a squealing little bundle that wants care and attention twenty-four hours a day will help us calm our nerves. Most probably, it will make our lives a pure hell on earth!"

James gave him a stern glance. "You went too damn far this time, Sirius. You're lucky that my mum cannot hear you, but I won't tolerate that sort of behavior, either."

Sirius blinked. "Don't be like that, James, not you too. Angela deals a great job in getting on my nerves, so don't start doing the same."

"Then watch your tongue better."

"What did I say?"

"You are referring to your child as 'it'," James explained. "And do you know what, Sirius? It does not amuse. Not at all."

"Am I laughing? I am not amused, James. In fact, I'm bloody terrified of the idea of sharing my life with a newborn baby. It's a big responsibility. And I'm not talking only about the inconveniences of sharing your home with an infant, though I'm not thrilled with joy of that perspective. A baby means a responsibility that I'm not ready to take - not yet. You know that I didn't want children."

"Well, it's a bit irrelevant right now," James commented, taking a sip of his tea. "You're going to have one in...." He did not end this line.

Sirius nodded darkly. "Yes, and I'm concerned about that, too. The baby should have been born two weeks ago! That's not good, James, no matter what everyone keeps saying."

"Well, it is rather common for the firstborns to be late," James noted.

"You wait until it's yours and Lily's firstborn that is late, and then you talk," Sirius snapped. "I worry about her."

"I see."

Sirius sighed, took a sip of his tea, and said, "I'm sorry, Prongs. I know you're only trying to help, and I know I'm being an idiot, but the truth is that between her expecting and all that is happening outside, I don't have a single nerve left in my body."

"It's okay."

"No, it isn't. This attack on St. Mungo's was a nasty piece of luck. Now, we don't have a place to take her to when the time comes."

"I know."

"Anyway, do you want something to eat before leaving?"

James shrugged. "You know I never turn down food."

"Then I'll make some sandwiches. We still have enough time, right?"

"Yes, we have to leave at eight o'clock, and it is still...." James looked at the clock on the wall. "Barely six."

Sirius opened the refrigerator and took some butter, cheese, and ham out. Then, he felt James' gaze at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," his friend assured him. "I only wonder, since when have you had a fridge and a stove?"

Sirius did not raise his eyes from the bread he was cutting into slices. "Angela bought them a few weeks ago. One day, I came home, and they were there." He left the sandwiches for a moment and drank his tea. "They can be quite useful, you know. I can't deal with all those house spells, and she prefers cooking the Muggle way."

"They really are quite useful," Angela agreed from the door. She entered the kitchen, her movements very clumsy because of her huge stomach, and sat on the sofa - another newly acquainted object in Black's household. "Is that tea still warm?"

"You shouldn't have gotten up," Sirius said in a harsh voice.

"I had trouble sleeping," she explained, and James wondered whether they were going to begin one of their infamous quarrels that made their friends wish to hide under James' Invisibility Cloak. Since Angela had become pregnant, the two of them seemed capable of arguing whether or not the sky was blue. No, they did not only look capable of that - they were doing it all the time! Even the most insignificant thing could cause a serious row, and while in the beginning Angela had at least tried to be reasonable, now she searched for any reason for a quarrel. No, it's not fair. Her nerves are up because of the pregnancy, that's all. Still, she did lose her temper with Sirius because of very insignificant things, like forgetting to buy butter, or increasing the sound of the radio too much.

"I just wanted to wish you good luck," she said, while James was standing up to bring her a cup. Sirius finished making the first sandwich and offered it to her, but she shook her head. "I'm not hungry yet," she said, smiling stiffly. "Now, tell me everything about this mission of yours."

"You already know everything," Sirius said. "The house that Caradoc and I have been watching is full of Death Eaters. For all we know, they are having a meeting tomorrow morning, and we have to arrest them."

"How many of you are going to be there?" she asked.

"Twenty-four," James answered. "Don't worry, we won't take any risks."

"I wish I could join you," she said thoughtfully.

"You do?" James asked, looking pointedly at her stomach.

"I know, I know, I can't. I just want to."

"Hey, are you fine?"

"Yes, absolutely."

James took the sandwich that Sirius gave him, and a moment later, someone knocked at the door. Sirius answered the door, and not even a minute later, Remus came into the kitchen. "Can't sleep?" James asked. "Welcome to the club, Moony. Padfoot and I are looking forward to fighting the bad guys. You are too, right?"

"You've chosen the perfect moment to make an appearance," Angela said. "Sirius just made sandwiches."

At eight o'clock, the three men stood up. Remus and James hugged the young woman and she wished them good luck, then Sirius took her in his arms. "Take care," she whispered.

"Don't worry, you know that Patience is my middle name," Sirius joked, and looked her in the eyes. "You are going to look after yourself, right?"

She nodded. He smiled at her and followed his friends outside. Angela went to the window and kept looking at them until they disappeared at the corner. Then, she went to the fireplace and, without kneeling, made a Firecall to the house she had known since her childhood. "Mrs. Lupin?" she asked when she the older woman appeared into view. "Can you come here?"

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The first person that Sirius saw when he entered the flat two days later was Remus' father, and that rang an alarm bell in his head. "Hello, Mr. Lupin," he said. "Is something wrong?"

The older man smiled, but Sirius could say that it was quite forced. "Hello, Sirius. How did your mission go? Is Remus fine?"

"Yes, he is. He must be back at his flat by now. Everything is fine."

John Lupin nodded. "Good."

"Is something wrong here? Where's Angela?"

"She's in her room. Julia and Liz are with her." Though they had never seen each other before, during the last months the Lupins and the Potters were all concerned about Angela and the baby, so they had visited the flat quite often - and so met each other regularly.

Sirius paled slightly. "Is she -?"

Mr. Lupin nodded. "She's gone into labor, yes."

"When?" Sirius asked. "How is she?"

"It began two days ago."

"Two days? So long?" Sirius was horrified. "How is she?" he almost shouted.

"Sirius, calm down! They are doing everything they can."

"What does that mean? What's going on?"

A shriek coming from the next room answered him. Sirius' face turned from pale to ashen. "It's normal." Mr. Lupin tried to reassure him. "Childbirth is accompanied by screams."

Before Sirius could answer, the door to the corridor opened and Henry Potter came into the room. Now, Sirius felt a real panic. If they were all here, that could mean only that things were not looking good. Two days. Two bloody days! Too long. Far too long. What had gone wrong?

Finally, Angela's scream faded away. Mr. Potter looked at him questioningly. "James is fine," Sirius said shortly. "What's going on? Are at least you going to tell me what's going on, Mr. Potter?"

The other man avoided Sirius' eyes. "I am not sure. We aren't allowed in. For all I know, Raymond is trying to deliver the baby with Julia and Liz helping him, but it's not coming as quickly as it should. That was all I could hear from the corridor."

"But she is fine, isn't she?"

A new scream of unbearable pain made it perfectly clear that Angela was not fine. The three men shuddered simultaneously, and when the shriek died away, John Lupin said, "She's going to be fine. She's a strong girl. Always has been."

Sirius thought that the older man sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of that.

"Why is Raymond here?" he asked. "I mean no offence, Mr. Lupin, but I thought that he has specialized in another area."

"Well, yes, but - "

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, John, just tell him the truth, you're just making him more nervous than he already is," Henry Potter interjected impatiently. "Sirius, don't fret, but the truth is, we could not find a specialized Healer to bring to her. After the recent attacks and given the fact that St. Mungo's is currently closed for patients because of the reconstruction period, every Healer is very busy to tend to the victims of the Death Eaters. We didn't dare to try to take her to a Muggle hospital because there are still Death Eaters at loose somewhere near, and we could easily be followed and trapped. We tried to convince some Healers but no one wanted to lose their time with something as natural as childbirth when they could be more useful elsewhere."

"But it isn't so natural!" Sirius exclaimed, indignant. "If it was, it wouldn't have lasted for two days!"

"Yes," Mr. Potter admitted.

"So?"

"So, we wait. We can't do anything else. I just hope that she and the baby are fine."

In her room, Angela screamed again, this time even more anguished. When is this going to stop? Oh Merlin, make it stop!

"She's strong," John Lupin said again, "and she wants this baby. They will be fine. Both of them."

True, Angela wants this baby, Sirius thought darkly. If she did not, she wouldn't have been in this state now. I knew it! If it wasn't because of that baby....

"Oh, yes," Mr. Potter agreed, "she's wanted it from the first day she knew she was pregnant."

The first day she knew that she was going to have a baby, Mr. Potter, Sirius corrected him mentally. Not that she was pregnant. That was what Angela herself had told him - after he had insisted that she should abort the baby, she had become very still, and then she had she had risen up and given him the unlit cigarette that she had been tossing between her fingers the whole time. "You made your point clear," she'd told him, "so I'll do the same. I won't bring on a miscarriage. Don't fret, Sirius, I won't force you into taking any sort of responsibility because I was the one responsible for my own incautiousness. Take this cigarette and smoke it because I won't. I can't. I'm pregnant." "What the hell are you playing at?" he'd bellowed. "Nothing, Sirius. You haven't listened to what I told you at the beginning of our conversation. I told you that I was going to have a child and not that I was pregnant. I'm going to have a child, Sirius. I'll bring it into the world!"

He had turned on her in that moment. Why had he done it, actually? Because she wanted to give birth to her baby? Would things have been different now if he had behaved in a different way? He had heard that anxiety could affect the pregnancy, sometimes. And Angela had had more than her fair share of anxiety, thanks to one Sirius Black. The father of the child in question. The last months passed through his mind, as if he was watching a movie, every row, every offending word he had said to her, every disdainful look he had given her was so clear. What had been wrong with him? As if a child coming into the world was the greatest tragedy of all times! As if she alone had been responsible for getting pregnant. Angela was the one who had lost her family over that - her parents had kicked her out! - and still, he had acted like he was the one who had been wronged. Great sort of behavior coming from a man who claimed to love her, really great. She had been so unsure about practically everything, and he had made it all worse instead of better. If he had behaved in a different way, then maybe the baby would have been born the day it had been expected to, and everything might have been lot easier - not a two-day long labor. Now anything could happen, heaven forbid, even the worst of all.... No, not that! Anything but that. She's going to be fine. They are both going to be fine.

Remus appeared on the doorstep a minute later. "How is she?" he asked immediately.

"Not fine," Sirius answered darkly. He had just tried to poke his head through the door of Angela's bedroom to see what was going on, only to find out that there was a Locking spell placed on it. Judging from the worried voices coming from inside, something in the process was very, very wrong. "How did you know?"

"My father sent me a letter yesterday. I found it when I returned to my flat."

"Oh."

"What's going on? How long has she been in labor?"

"Two days," his father answered.

"Right after we left?"

"Before that, she told us."

"But why didn't she tell me anything, then?" Sirius wondered aloud.

"Probably didn't want to occupy your mind with worries about her while you were on your mission."

Or probably didn't think that I would be interested to know that the baby would be born soon, Sirius thought bitterly.

Should be born soon. Should be born soon. But it was not born soon. When James and Lily arrived four hours later, the baby still had not been born, and by what they could hear from behind the door - on which they all took shifts to eavesdrop - gave no signs of such intention. Judging by Angela's shrieks, it was becoming worse and worse. Raymond Lupin is a fine Healer, everyone says so, Sirius tried to console himself. Yes, but he had no experience in childbirth. How much more can she take? How much, before....

It was well past midnight, when the shrieks suddenly stopped. There was no sound coming from Angela's room - even Raymond's voice, or the other two women's. What was going on now, in that stillness? Sirius could hardly stop himself from trembling; the others looked quite pale too, though they were trying to look calm.

Yes! Here it is! Another shriek filled the room and echoed inside as an awful howl of anguish and fury. When it finally graded into a moan of relief, a weak cry could be heard through it.

"The baby's born!" Lily sighed with relief that no one else shared because soon, it became clear that things were still not looking good. The nervous voices of the young man and the two women filled Angela's room again, the infant was still crying, and no one came to tell them what was going on.

Finally, the door opened and someone walked through the corridor. Everyone's eyes fell on the door of the living room. Julia Lupin appeared in the door-frame in mere seconds. She was cradling a white bundle in her arms. "It's a boy," she said.

"How is Angela? Is she fine?" Sirius asked sharply, concerned about his wife only.

"She's alive."

"What does that mean? Is she fine?"

Instead of answering, Mrs. Lupin came near him, and Sirius took a step backwards. "No!"

Paying no attention to his objection, Julia Lupin took a hold of his hands and placed the baby in his arms. "Here. That is more like it," she said contentedly. "This is your son. I'm placing him in your arms, and it's up to you whether to drop him or not."

Panicked, Sirius searched the others' faces for someone who could help him. The fact that he had finally accepted that the baby had the right to live, and that he himself had been a prat towards his mother still did not mean that Sirius wanted to hold him. No one came to take the bundle from his arms, so he looked down at him and was met by a small red face and a pair of dark eyes that were watching him curiously. The baby moved beneath the white blanket, and Sirius loosened it a bit, enough for the baby to break his arm free and wave energetically in the air.

Sirius took the tiny hand in his palm and looked at it. The child was only minutes old, but his hand looked like an adult's hand - with wrinkles and lines, and five pink fingers that caught Sirius' own index finger in a surprisingly strong grasp. He felt himself smiling, then bent his head to look at the baby more closely. Something warm and fuzzy in his chest made his breathe stop. Slowly, a large grin spread across his face. "Hello, baby," he said in a very soft voice. "Do you know who I am? I am your daddy, baby. I'm so glad that you are here, I am. Welcome home, baby. We are going to make you a nice room with a comfortable cradle and many soft toys. Yes, my first job tomorrow will be to go out and buy you the biggest stuffed dog ever - You want a stuffed dog, don't you? Or do you prefer a wolf, like your mum? Never mind, I'm going to buy you both, and then I'll be the nicest pet ever - " The baby blinked. "What? I can be nice!" Sirius insisted. "I'll always be nice to you."

He put his nose to the baby's wet cheek and sniffed it, as he would have done in his dog form, ignoring the bewildered looks the others kept throwing at him. "That's it," James said slowly. "Sirius is in love."

Sirius took his eyes off his son and grinned at James. "Is it so unnatural to fall in love with my own child?"

"Given the words that you've been saying for months?" James asked and then answered honestly, "Yes."

"Well, I am," Sirius announced, and basked of the sight of the infant again. "Do not listen to him, baby, he's just being a very silly Prongs, but he can't help it, so don't mind him."

"Mum, what about Angela?" Remus asked.

"She... she isn't that fine," Mrs. Lupin admitted. "No, Sirius, don't!" she said hurriedly when she saw him headed to the door. "Raymond and Liz are dealing with her now, and you are going to get in their way."

Sirius stopped but did not come back. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Mrs. Lupin, tell me what's going on."

"Don't worry, Sirius, she's going to live. She's lost a lot of blood, but she's going to live," Julia assured him. "She's too exhausted right now, but she's going to make it."

"What is it, then?" Sirius insisted.

The woman hesitated. "She lost a lot of blood," she finally said, "and there were some other complications. She's going to be fine, but Raymond does not believe that she can have other children after this."

Sirius looked like he had been slapped. "That's impossible," he said fiercely, horror grasping him that actually it might be possible.

"My son may be wrong," she agreed. "He himself isn't sure of that diagnosis, but I can say that he truly believes it, and from what I saw, he has every reason to."

"But that's impossible! I want other children! You may be wrong. You have to be!"

"How much do people change," James whispered to Remus, whose only response was a nod.

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A month later....

"Are you in the mood for having a guest?" Angela asked, entering James' flat.

"It depends. If the guest is Padfoot," he said, looking straight at Sirius, "then no. If the guest in question is you, I can think about it. If it's Caine...." Now James grinned. "Welcome!"

He took the baby from his mother's arms and gave him a silly smile. "Come here, champion. So glad to see you. I missed you."

"You saw him only two days ago, Prongs," Sirius noted.

"Yes, two clear days. He is going to forget who I am if you continue like this."

"James, he's only a month old," Angela reminded him. "He still doesn't know who you are."

"He does!" James said confidently. "I am the most beloved of all his uncles."

"If you say so." She smiled. How different she looked from the nervous woman from the last months - now she looked confident and, despite her tiredness with the baby - happy. She still did not look beautiful, not even pretty, but it would happen soon. At least she did not look like the pale apparition from the days shortly after the childbirth and after Raymond Lupin had had her hanging in the air with her head down, her whole body wrapped in bandages to prevent her from bleeding to death.

"So, how did you decide to come and visit me?" James asked.

"As a matter of fact, we were only passing by," Sirius explained. "I'm taking Angela to dinner."

"Oh. And who is going to take care of this little jewel here?"

"You are going to do that."

"Me? No."

"Yes. Here is his bottle, his water, a few spare diapers...."

"No," James said firmly.

Sirius had taken Angela's hand and was leading her to the door.

"We'll come tomorrow morning to get him, before his feeding at four o'clock."

"What? Four?" James shouted desperately. "I'm not doing this!"

Of course, he had no other choice, and he knew that, because the child was already in his arms. "But I don't know what to do with him! What am I going to do if he starts to cry?"

"Change his diaper," Sirius said.

"What?"

"Take good care of him."

"I don't know how!"

Sirius smirked. "I was talking to Caine. C'mon, Angela, let's go!"

"Bye, Caine," she said, and smiled reassuringly at her son. "We're coming back soon. Mummy loves you."

With that, the couple was already next to the door. Now, James realized that they really did intend to leave him alone with the baby. "Wait!" he shouted desperately. "Padfoot, you can't do this to me!"

"See you later, Prongs!"

The next moment, they were gone. "Wait! Sirius, come back!"

But Sirius did not come back. All that James managed to do was to send Caine into a fit of crying that he somehow knew could not be handled by a change of diapers.

"Great. Just great. Sirius Black is going to pay for this!"

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That was it. I hope you liked it but I'd like to know what you think, so don't forget to leave a review!

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