Drabble: Bringing Home Baby
Title: Bringing Home Baby
Rating and Word Count: G, 490 (I think. My word counter's gone all wonky.)
Summary: The first few days are the hardest.
Notes: Written for the dramionedrabble Halloween 2008 challenge for the prompt "Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up with current events, but we just go our asses kicked, pal!" --Aliens and my 100quills table 50.1 prompt 018 Child.
Draco helped Hermione ease her tired, sore body down onto the sofa before settling next to her with a sigh. Exhausted, they sat like matched bookends: same dark circles under the eyes and pale skin, same lank, uncombed hair, same shell-shocked expressions. Curdled white vomit trailed over Draco's left shoulder and down his back; Hermione had matching splotches all over the front of her sleep shirt. Blankly, they stared at the cold fireplace.
“Maybe it's time to call our parents,” he said abruptly.
“No.”
“I'm just saying, I bet both your mum and mine would be here in a heartbeat if we asked them to come. We could get some sleep and get cleaned up.” He slapped his hand over his stomach as it growled. “We could take time for a decent meal, too.
“No!”
“Why not?” Draco turned toward her and rested his back against the arm of the sofa. “Hermione, in case you haven't been paying attention here, that baby is kicking our asses.” She shot him a dirty look. “Why can't we ask for help?”
Slowly, as if explaining something to someone very dim, Hermione said, “We can't call our parents, Draco. We are the parents now.”
“Parents who are very near the end of their rope. Besides,” he crossed his arms over his chest, “they're both parents and grandparents now. They should be doing double duty.”
Mute, Hermione shook her head.
Draco swung his pajama-clad legs off the sofa and stood up. “I'm going to floo Mother.”
“No!” He realized suddenly that Hermione had started crying. “I don't want anyone to see this!”
“Whoa, whoa,” Draco sank to his knees next to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. “See what? She won't care. We're new parents; we're supposed to look this messy.”
“Not that,” she hiccuped, sounding so miserable he cupped her face and brought her mouth to his for a reassuring kiss. “I don't want anyone to see that our own son hates us,” she wailed, “and that we're failing at parenthood!”
“We're not. We just don't know what we're doing, sweetheart, and we can't relax. I think Alexander's picking up on our stress and it makes him cry.” He smoothed her frizzy hair away from her face. “He loves us already, just like we love him.
“We could never be failures, Hermione. In a few more weeks, we'll be tops at this.” He smiled into her eyes. “We'll be like the Head Boy and Head Girl of parenthood,” he said, and was rewarded with a watery giggle that immediately shattered into a moan as a piercing cry was heard from upstairs.
“Oh, no,” she sighed, using his shoulders to lever herself to her feet.
“Hermione...”
“It's okay. Call Narcissa, invite her over.” She paused at the doorway and smiled back at Draco. “Maybe she'll have some advice for me. After all, she had a baby Malfoy and lived to tell the tale.”
Rating and Word Count: G, 490 (I think. My word counter's gone all wonky.)
Summary: The first few days are the hardest.
Notes: Written for the dramionedrabble Halloween 2008 challenge for the prompt "Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up with current events, but we just go our asses kicked, pal!" --Aliens and my 100quills table 50.1 prompt 018 Child.
Draco helped Hermione ease her tired, sore body down onto the sofa before settling next to her with a sigh. Exhausted, they sat like matched bookends: same dark circles under the eyes and pale skin, same lank, uncombed hair, same shell-shocked expressions. Curdled white vomit trailed over Draco's left shoulder and down his back; Hermione had matching splotches all over the front of her sleep shirt. Blankly, they stared at the cold fireplace.
“Maybe it's time to call our parents,” he said abruptly.
“No.”
“I'm just saying, I bet both your mum and mine would be here in a heartbeat if we asked them to come. We could get some sleep and get cleaned up.” He slapped his hand over his stomach as it growled. “We could take time for a decent meal, too.
“No!”
“Why not?” Draco turned toward her and rested his back against the arm of the sofa. “Hermione, in case you haven't been paying attention here, that baby is kicking our asses.” She shot him a dirty look. “Why can't we ask for help?”
Slowly, as if explaining something to someone very dim, Hermione said, “We can't call our parents, Draco. We are the parents now.”
“Parents who are very near the end of their rope. Besides,” he crossed his arms over his chest, “they're both parents and grandparents now. They should be doing double duty.”
Mute, Hermione shook her head.
Draco swung his pajama-clad legs off the sofa and stood up. “I'm going to floo Mother.”
“No!” He realized suddenly that Hermione had started crying. “I don't want anyone to see this!”
“Whoa, whoa,” Draco sank to his knees next to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. “See what? She won't care. We're new parents; we're supposed to look this messy.”
“Not that,” she hiccuped, sounding so miserable he cupped her face and brought her mouth to his for a reassuring kiss. “I don't want anyone to see that our own son hates us,” she wailed, “and that we're failing at parenthood!”
“We're not. We just don't know what we're doing, sweetheart, and we can't relax. I think Alexander's picking up on our stress and it makes him cry.” He smoothed her frizzy hair away from her face. “He loves us already, just like we love him.
“We could never be failures, Hermione. In a few more weeks, we'll be tops at this.” He smiled into her eyes. “We'll be like the Head Boy and Head Girl of parenthood,” he said, and was rewarded with a watery giggle that immediately shattered into a moan as a piercing cry was heard from upstairs.
“Oh, no,” she sighed, using his shoulders to lever herself to her feet.
“Hermione...”
“It's okay. Call Narcissa, invite her over.” She paused at the doorway and smiled back at Draco. “Maybe she'll have some advice for me. After all, she had a baby Malfoy and lived to tell the tale.”