Don't do this to me - not now.

"Khaat calm down." Rob soothed. He could tell she was getting a little over emotional and that she was obviously overeager to tell him exactly what happened. If he was honest he didn't care. He'd deal with Majere later, all Rob wanted to know was that she was safe - that they were safe. "I love you and I don't care whether Majere wants a Horcrux type locket thing all I care about is that you and the little one are safe. Look, Majere could stick the bloody thing up his arse and blow himself up with it and I'd probably just laugh but as long as that’s not you I don't care."

Rob flicked his wand at the chest of drawer and one of them opened. He put his wand behind his ear and clicked his fingers. A small velvet box rose from the drawer and floated over to him. Rob caught it and got up off of the bed. He walked to the side Khaat was sat on and knelt down. He would have to improvise because he did have yet to come put with some sort of speech but he knew what he wanted to say.

"I nearly lost you tonight and I think I have said this a million times but I would have died tonight if I lost you. I know that a piece of jewellery won't bring us any closer but I want you to be a part of me and I you. I love you beyond words and just to call you mine would be something I could only dream of. So, Khaat Karina Lupin, would you do me the honour of wearing a pretty white dress and writing out all of those invites but most importantly be my wife?" Rob opened the box, albeit a bit shakily and bit his lip. Judgement time.

"Yes, yes, yes," She smiled. "If you can put up with all these little quirks I'm trying to fix, how on earth could I say no? I love you, Robert Dent, with everything I have. And, if I haven't said it, thank you--for being there tonight for me. I never want it to be anyone else who's there for me but you." She sat up and kissed him deeply and slowly, but it made her dizzy. She curled into his shoulder. "Sorry," she said. "I might have hit my head more than I thought. Dad'll have it back to rights by morning, I'm sure."

Rob grinned and chuckled. She was weak of course but it seemed that it was time for her to rest. He took the ring from the box and gently slid it onto her finger. He was going to marry this woman and he knew it was probably one of the best choices he had ever made. He was beyond in love with her and knew that now there would be no chance anything bad could happen to them. He was on cloud nine and nothing could push him off or deflate the cloud.

Rob laid Khaat gently back down on the pillows and got up. He walked around the other side of the bed and sat down. He put some pillows up against the headboard and leaned against them. He pulled Khaat into his arms and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep love. You both need it after everything mother and child have shared today. Bonding time is over for now. Sleep."

"Maybe you're right," she yawned, curling as close as she could get, her head in his lap. She felt so guilty that she had never gotten the chance to tell him all the things she had wanted to say to him--every missed opportunity or conversation. She wanted to make everything right. She felt an urgent need to try to say them now--just in case he wanted to change his mind. She desperately tried to tell him about Miseria being pregnant, wanting him to be protective of how he told Miseria about the night's events because of Miseria's pregnancy, but Khaat wasn't sure any of the words in her sentence came out in the right order. It felt scrambled in her dazed brain. She wasn't sure she had heard her own words correctly in her own ears.

She fell asleep midsentence, feeling helpless and frustrated with herself, but too weak and powerless to change it. And he had made no move to help her stay awake to finish her thought. That had been aggravating. She had wanted him to help her with that, but he had purposely stayed silent, forcing her to give in to her father's potions and her own exhaustion. She had no choice but to give it all to Rob--everything. Every worry, every concern, every hope, and every single need. The last thing she thought about was the beautiful, glistening heart shaped diamond on her finger, what it meant, and what a completely perfect choice he had made in picking out the ring, and how blissfully happy she was, despite her head feeling flat and really strange.

Robert stopped in a short while later and found Rob on duty, taking care of Khaat. Robert went over to her and laid his hand on her forehead, doing a bodyscan. "She's better. Much better than she was," he told Rob softly. "She might be able to be up enough to go from her bed to the sofa downstairs, but we'll have to hang onto her. Her balance centers will be severelly off for awhile. She's going to look for awhile very much like she's been at the pub way too long when she's up walking, I'm afraid. I'd prefer she not walk into things if we can help it. And definately no headers down the stairs.

"I'm going to wake her every couple of hours so I can watch to make sure she doesn't develop any compllications during the night, with her concussion or with the baby. The first 48 hours are always the touchiest with these sorts of things. If nothing else develops by then, then this will be as bad as it gets. And, actually, it looks drastically better right now. You ought to get some rest while she's sleeping.

"Count on her wanting to try to keep up to a normal pace tomorrow, if she's feeling in any way back to normal. That'll be the hard part. Her mother and I will help you there. She always seems to have a need to prove how damned tough she is and that life is just back to a happy normal--I think that's another one of those insufferable Remus things. He was the exact same way. They were glued together from the instant she was born until he died. And, I think she's feeling like she wants to prove to you that she's not into a lot of drama about these sorts of things. At any rate, she'll sleep all night tonight. I promise, and I'll keep you posted the instant I notice the slightest change. She's going to want you running the house and being with her tomorrow when she's awake."


The next thing Khaat knew it was morning. She saw bright sunlight streaming through the stained glass picture that was set into her bedroom window. A sunbeam spread across the bed and seemed to light up the diamond on her finger. It made her smile. Another morning, and she was miraculously still alive. That felt very odd to her in itself. And the best part was that Rob was still sitting beside her, leaning against the headboard of the bed, but had dozed off at some point. It had been a long night. He would be stiff at the very least, she knew, and she felt bad about that for him. As for her, she had a screaming headache. Just lifting her head off the pillow made the whole room spin viciously. She had a couple of vague memories of her father waking her during the night to check on her, but they were fuzzy and seemed very strangely distant this morning.

She waved her hand to bring the mirror from the dresser, and the sight that met her was not pretty. She had cuts and bruises everywhere, including on her face. Deep black bruises. She had some dried blood caked in her hair. She suddenly felt very ugly now and had thoughts of not wanting Rob to see her so dirty and discolored.

She could feel bandages around her ribs--her father's work from last night, she remembered. She hurt everywhere. And then she remembered. She was pregnant. Carrying Rob's child. That made her smile. She decided she didn't want to know in advance whether it was a boy or a girl. She wanted to be surprised. She only wanted to know her baby--their baby--was healthy. She looked over at Rob. She could see the exhaustion on his face. He'd been up at least most of the night because of his concern for her. She didn't want to ever do that to him again. If he wanted her to quit Hogwarts, quit St. Mungo's, quit the Order, she'd do it all. Anything he wanted. She wasn't exactly the kind to stay home and knit baby booties, but if that's what he wanted, she'd certainly try to learn.

Her father came in silently to avoid waking Rob. He laid his hand on her forehead, making his bodyscan check. "Much, much better, " he whispered, "You'll live--thanks to Rob. How are you feeling, my dear?" "Everything hurts," Khaat confessed in a whisper. "It bloody well should," he replied, reprimanding her gently, pulling a small vial out of his pocket. "Drink this. And not even half a thought about getting up until I tell you otherwise. Understand me?" Khaat nodded slightly and drank the potion. It was a pain reducing solution.

"Khaat, you have a concussion," Robert told her. "When I do let you up again, you will have someone to help you. That is not a request. That is an order. I will not have you falling and endangering this child. You honestly still could lose this baby because of last night. The next 48 hours will be critical. The concussion's swelling is affecting primarily the balance center of the brain. It will clear up in time, but until then, even the most simple tasks will seem almost impossible." "I need to shower, Daddy," She said. "Did you see all that filth in my hair?"

"Not today," Robert said firmly. "That 'filth' is your blood, Child. Your mother will help you wash up shortly, and then you and I have some work to do digging out all those metal shards you have in all those cuts. If we don't get them out, those cuts will never heal with that evil magic imbedded in that gold." "What about all my teenage kids, Daddy?" she asked. "We'll handle that, "Robert said, "You can see them, as you're up to it. Would you like some tea?" He laid the mirror back on the dresser. "Don't worry about all those bruises. He already saw those last night. Although they are darker now that they've had time to set," Robert said, knowingly, "I don't think that's on the top on his list of things to worry about. Let it go, Khaat."

"Yes, tea please?" Khaat asked, her throat dry and parched. He summoned the teacup, using nonverbal magic and helped her with a couple of sips before setting it aside. "That's enough for now. Rest. I'll be back," he said. He left, and Khaat fell into a light half sleep, curled back around him with her head on his lap, her arm around his waist, so she would be aware of the tiniest movement that told her when Rob had stirred. She wasn't willing to miss one more second of their lives together. Not one more. And as she slipped off to sleep, for some odd reason, she began to see pictures in her head of how extraordinarily handsome he would look in a tuxedo in a tiny chapel someplace. She hadn't seen anything better in her whole life.

Rob could feel the sun on his face. He knew the little rays were peeking through the curtains that had been drawn the night before and he was beginning to get annoyed by the heat that was only warming certain parts of his face. He cracked an eye open and surveyed the room. His neck was stiff, as was his back but it was nothing that a run around Hogsmeade wouldn't sort out. The day would be warm and he couldn't wait to do something practical that would end up with every bone in his body aching by evening. He didn't mind, it gave him a lot of time to think.

But he wanted to cook first. Maybe he'd ditch being a vegetarian for a while and actually make something decent. Then he'd go home, home and apologize to his grandmother. Maybe she'd actually make him something vegetarian just to mix it up a little bit. Rob doubted it very highly but the woman was senile and he expected an owl from either his mother, grandmother or sister quite son. As much as he loved all three women they drove him insane.

Rob looked down and smiled a little at Khaat. He had wondered idly if it was all a bad dream but it most definitely wasn’t. That meant that she was pregnant and his fiancé. He’d been planning on asking her to marry him but he hadn’t really been thinking straight last night. He knew if it would have been any other circumstances he would be down the pub with his sister, filling each other’s boots with as much alcohol as possible. But there was something else. Something he couldn’t quite recall. It was right there but he couldn’t work out what it was. Something about Mis.

“She’s pregnant.” Rob murmured, remembering what Khaat had told him. He wondered if it was mating season but brushed that thought off knowing that someone else would jump on the band wagon if he blurted that thought out loud. He would have laughed if it was but that wasn’t the point.

Rob carefully slid off of the bed, making sure he laid Khaat down in a comfortable position. He sighed and pulled a shirt over his head before kissing her forehead and leaving the room. He walked downstairs a lot quieter than he usually would and walked into the kitchen. Immediately Rob began to start making some breakfast. He was making it at the mother load, knowing that there were at least eight or nine people in the house at least. He didn’t know but whatever the number was, he was enjoying making breakfast for them.

(Argh! Revenge of the crappy posts!)

Khaat woke slowly, heavily, and realized she had awakened because Rob was gone. She was alone. Well, she decided to sod all her father's orders and get the dried blood out of her hair. She got up very slowly, hanging onto the bedpost and took her robe, made it to the bathroom and showered--very carefully. She washed the dried and caked blood out of her hair and felt a lot more alive and human.

She carefully made it back to her room, and was so sore that she chose her oldest jeans that were worn and soft. She chose a loose fitting tunic style top that was in soft pink cotton and had just a little bit of sparkly stuff around the mandarin style collar. She thought she needed the color. She added her usual silver earrings and just the slightest touch of Rob's favorite perfume. She wanted make up in the worst way, but her face was too sore with cuts and bruises, so she decided against it, reluctantly.

She couldn't bend down to the floor this morning to put on shoes, so she slipped on a pair of deerskin scuff style slippers that she had bought through an American catalog of western wear. They looked Native American made, and they were warm and comfortable. She liked them.

She heard nothing from her parents' room next door or from any other room for that matter. But she did smell coffee. And that was a sure way to lure her from any end of the house. She got up and tried again to walk across the room, and found it almost impossible. She was too dizzy to try stairs, so she just apparated her way into the kitchen and found Rob busy at the stove. She sat down at the table fairly quickly because of her dizziness. "Good morning," she said softly. "The coffee smells divine."

Rob had become engrossed with his cooking. It was almost quite sad but it was a way of letting out some pent up frustration. He knew that a game of Quidditch later would do the trick and then he'd be pretty relaxed. Perhaps that was all he needed, just some things to take his mind off of the life he'd created for himself. It wasn't a bad life but it wasn't something he'd intended to create.

When he was seventeen he didn't picture himself engaged, teaching at the same school he hated and nine months away from being a father. If the Divination teacher prophesised that he would have probably asked his mother to sue the woman. But here he was, flipping pancakes and making sure the bacon wasn't burning.

Rob flipped the pancakes onto one of the plates and left them there to do what they were doing before dropping some bacon onto the other plates. Rob charmed the food and plates to stay warm before putting the pots and pans in the sink. He turned around and saw Khaat sat at the table completely nonchalant. He blinked a few times and chuckled before picking up two plates of food. Rob put them down on the table and poured some coffee out into cups.

He slid into a seat and ran his hand along Khaat's arm with a slightly worried expression on his face. If he was in her position he definitely wouldn't have gotten out of bed - there would be no way. "What are you doing up, love?" he asked. "Did you completely ignore your father or did you just forget? I'm guessing you ignored him but my amazing cooking is no reason to get up."

"I feel fine--except for this damned headache and this wild hangover sort of feeling. I'd much rather be with you. I don't want to spend one more minute without you in it with me. Not ever. I want to be Mrs. Robert Dent--now--today, and I don't want to waste one more minute of our lives together," Khaat said softly. "But in answer to your question, yes. I basically blew off what he told me. He knew I would. And I just want to be able to look into those amazing eyes of yours every moment of the rest of my life.

"But as to the rest of it, I don't think I'm an expert at walking again yet, but I'm working on it. I could do that better if the room would quit moving,"She laughed gently. She took a sip of the coffee. "Perfect. Just the way I like it. I could get used to this. You know, this time yesterday morning, if you'd have told me I'd be looking at all of this right now, I'd have thought you'd lost your mind. Nothing seems the same anymore. By the way, breakfast smells terrific." She picked up her fork and started in on the pancakes and bacon he'd fixed. It was every bit as delicious as it smelled. "You are an excellent cook. Thank you. It's delicious, and I'm actually hungry."

"Rob," She said softly, "If you think I don't see your frustration, you're wrong. If you're going to be frustrated, then be frustrated with me. I made the choice to destroy that thing before Majere could get it. I made the mistake to go by myself, and I surely made a mistake in how much power it had and in how much power I needed. It honestly is not like me to make so many critical errors, much less all in the same night. You have every right to be furious with me. I would understand that. Really."

“I’m not angry with you.” Rob said, picking up his cup of coffee. “A lot happened in one night, that’s all. It’s a bit much for one guy to handle. I don’t know anyone that could deal with their girlfriend and child nearly being blown up. I’m angry at myself more than anything. Angry because I obviously wasn’t there for you when you needed me. That you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on.”

Rob sighed and put his cup of coffee down on the table. He was confused mostly. It hadn’t quite sunk in that he was going to be a father in nine months time. He was beyond worried though. He had no idea what he was going to do. A part of him was telling him to grab his coat, shoes and run for the hills but those weren’t thoughts he wanted to make reality. He wanted to stay so badly but he didn’t know what use he was going to be. Could he even father this child? Children needed love, care and affection 24/7 once they were born so how was he supposed to do that? He was insane - he must have been.

Perhaps it was god’s way of getting back at him for being such a little sod for most of his life. He could probably say goodbye to spending twelve hours down the pub on weekends, smoking his salary away because he had nothing better to do and racing Ferraris with his friends. Those were probably the main things he was going to have to ditch pretty sharpish. He’d miss the pub and the racing but the cigs would probably be the hardest to ditch. He just needed something to do. Maybe he’d take up wood work.

“I’d marry you here and now, Khaat but I’m not going to until you’re 100% well again. I don’t think I could risk eloping or doing something equally drastic in the state you’re in.” Rob murmured. He pulled a plate of bacon, eggs, sausages and whatever he’d made towards him and picked up a fork. He stabbed a few bits of egg and sausage before putting them in his mouth. He did wince a bit at the thought of eating the sausages but finally swallowed them. He did wonder why he was a vegetarian sometimes but he never really followed rules so why did those apply now? Right, because he hated the taste of meat.

Rob shuddered and pushed the plate away. It might have tasted good to someone who liked the stuff but it made his blood chill. That was pretty drastic but he hated the taste. Fish, eggs and anything else meaty he could handle but the stuff itself was just awful. He could remember being violently sick as a child. His mother thought it was some kind of allergic reaction but that just wasn’t the case. Firstly his grandmother’s cooking was too rich for his taste and of course it was meat. He wondered if the strange humanoid he’d help make would be the same as him. He hoped not.

“I think you should go back to bed after breakfast.” Rob suggested. “Your dad will probably come back and try to dig that stuff out of your cuts and I’m sure he wont be impressed if he finds you out of bed.”

He looked up and saw an Owl tapping at the window. It was a familiar bird and he wanted to know what the hell his sister wanted. Sighing, Rob got up and opened the window. The Owl dropped the letter into his hand and he closed the window once more. He took a knife out of the wooden holder on the counter and sliced the envelope open at the top. He put the knife back in its place and took the letter out. He smoothed it open and his eyes speedily flicked over it, committing each word to memory.


None of it was really making sense but he got the gist of it. Jenifer was coming to visit it seemed. He growled something that shouldn’t be heard by anyone below the age of 20 and screwed the letter up. He planned on ignoring it but it was a foolish thing to do. The four foot nothing sister of his would come and she would be like a hurricane before finally deciding to leave and go home. He knew it would only be a few hours with her but he could barely stand his mother for five minutes. How would this go down? Really well he bet. Well, maybe not.

"Rob?" Khaat frowned, "Bad news?" She hated to see him upset, and he had plenty of adjusting to do. She watched him take in whatever news had been in the owl.

"And so you know, I do trust you. I did, last night, apparently far more than you know. It was never a matter of not trusting you. I didn't want to bring that evil thing into our home. And I had no way of knowing whether you were busy with a student at the school or where you were. I was working at St. Mungo's, remember? I thought, at least a thousand times, about wanting you with me--you were first in my heart in every step I took. I don't know if these bloody rings are something that we can somehow use to call each other or not, but I sure wanted to know that last night. I would have given anything--well, almost anything--to have been able to call to you somehow last night. " She put her fork down.

"I do understand your thoughts about not wanting the wedding now. Whenever you want, " she said softly. "But you're right about getting that scrap metal out. I think I'll go find Dad. Thanks for breakfast."

She got up and made her way into the study and sat down there. She knew her father would find her there. She had always gravitated to books early in the morning when she lived at home, and she didn't have it in her to either apparate again, or tackle the stairs. She just wanted to sit and rest a bit. She did understand Rob's frustrations, and she knew she would feel the same way if she had been him. He was right. Completely. She just felt so helpless right now to make it any better. She'd messed it up about as much as it could be. So she sat in silence and pulled whatever book on the bookshelf was closest and tried to pretend it interested her.