Emma woke up, and threw the covers off her bed, as she stumbled over to the bathroom. Turning on the lights, she blinked slightly as her eyes adjusted. She walked back out to her dresser and turned on the radio on her way. While grabbing her clothes while mouthing the words to "Somebody to Love" by Queen while it was playing.

Walking back into the bathroom, she took a very quick shower, and got changed into a pair of khaki pants and a purple lyrican maternity top. She was 4 months preganent, which was a very long time for her, especially when Mark had been gone the whole time.

Mark was away on a "top-secret" auror request, and he left the morning of the day she found out she was preganent. It was an interesting conidence. He didnt even know she was preganent because no one was allowed to contact the aurors on the mission in case they would somehow be discovered. So, for the past 4 months she had been working and hanging out with Melie and Scarlett.

She hadnt been in the best mood over the last several months, she tried, but it was hard. It was not easy for metamorphagus to be preganent because of the changes of the body, and it was even harder for her because of her rare blood type.

As she walked downstairs of their house, she grabbed some breakfast and the pills she took in the morning to help eliminate any risks during the pregancy, before heading out to work. Getting into her Range Rover, she drove off to St. Mungo's hospital where she would meet Melie.

Melie had been up for almost an hour now getting herself and Lucie ready to leave the house. Her daughter, almost 2 now and dressed in a pair of jeans and a cute sweater, was sitting in her chair popping Cheerios into her mouth with a big grin on her face. Melie gave her a smile and sat down next to her and drank a glass of orange juice. The sun was shinning into the kitchen through the large window, making the pale green room sunny and cheerful.
Lucie was the perfect mix of Melie and Liam. Her hair was brown, lighter than Melie's, but darker than Liam's natural color, her eyes were Melie's blue, most of the time any how, they tended to change color just like her father's did. Some people said she looked just like Melie, and other said just like Liam, Melie and Liam both said it depended on which personality she decided to be, her mothers or her fathers. One thing was for certain, Lucie had them both wrapped around her baby finger.
"Come on Lucie, finish up so we can go," Melie gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and took her empty glass over to the sink and rinsed it out. She stood there wondering what the weather was like in Newcastle. Or was it Edinburgh? She couldn't remember where Liam was today, the quidditch team moved around so much for games and tournaments and practices, she hadn't seen him in almost a month. Her stomach had grown since then. When he had left there had only been a small bump, but now, at 5 months pregnant, she was showing for sure. She couldn't wait to see him again, and she didn't even know when that would be. Adjusting her red empire waist knee length dress Melie sighed, and gave a small pat to her belly; she walked over and picked up Lucie.
"Alright darling," Melie started, "It's time to go, Mama has to work and you need to go to daycare."
She left the townhouse that she and Liam had shared since before they were married over 3 years earlier, and walked out to the new SUV that was parked on the side of the road. She lifted Lucie into her car seat in the back and strapped her in.
"Mama work!" Lucie said clapping her hands together.
"Thats right, Mama has to go to work," Melie said smiling.
She closed the door of the BMW and opened the drivers door and slid in, as gracefully as she could. She hadn't gotten much more graceful as she had gotten older, something that Liam always said he loved about her. Melie started the car and headed to work. She was so glad that St.Mungo's had daycare for the healers, otherwise she would never get to see her daughter. Any breaks that she had, even if it was only for a moment or two, she would go and spend some time with Lucie, any time that she could get with her she would take.
Once they arrived Melie took Lucie and her things out of the car and made her way into the hospital trying to juggle everything without dropping her daughter.

Grinning, she quickly pulled into a space near the entrance of St. Mungo's which was hard to get. Not a bad start to the day. she said as she walked up the sidewalk, saying "Hello" to some of her co-workers that she passed. Seeing Melie coming in the same way, but from the opposite way, she walked up to her friend.

"Hey Mel! Hi Lucie!" she said with a grin, before offering to take something for Melie. "Here I'll take these." she said, grabbing several folders of patients from under Melie's arms, and added them to the stack of her own papers in her hand.

Flipping through some of her own files as she walked up the steps, she asked Lucie, "So how is Lucie this morning?" without looking up from the files. Holding the doors open, she allowed Melie to walk through before following behind. "Mel, I'll just drop this off at your office on my way up to my floor." she said, referring to the papers while waving goodbye to Lucie.

Getting on the elevator, she pressed the button for Mel's floor which wasnt that high up so it didnt take long. Walking out of the elevator, she handed the files to one of the nurses on that floor, before getting back on the elevator and leaving for her own floor.

Melie was walking towards the entrance when she saw Emma coming towards her and Melie gave her a smile.
"Hi! Thanks," She said as Emma took several files from under her arm and she adjusted Lucie in the other.
"Auntie Emma!" Lucie said excitedly as Melie walked through the door that Emma held open for her. Lucie saw Emma everyday, more than she saw almost anyone else, except for a few real family members. Emma and Melie had been old friends from school, and did practically everything together so it wasn't unusual for Lucie to be calling her Auntie at all. "Just give them to Arianna, she'll make sure they get put on my desk," Melie told Emma as she headed off towards the daycare. Arianna was the new secretary that she had since her promotion 2 months earlier. She wasn't chief of staff for her department (yet) but she was just under him, so she only had to wait for him to retire, which there were rumors would happen in the next couple of years, and then Melie would become the Chief of Staff of the Creature Induced Injuries Department. She would be the youngest chief ever if it happened within the next 10 years.
Lucie blew a kiss to Emma and Melie walked into the daycare. She took off Lucie's jacket and gave her a kiss and hug and put all of her things into the assigned cubby hole and waved goodbye as she left after letting the head witch of the daycare know that Lucie had arrived, even though it wasn't necessary as her daughter was screaming with delight at being reunited with her best friend Geoffry, the son of one of the nurses on the same floor that Emma worked on.
Melie arrived in her office a few minutes later, the folders on her desk. She down at the desk and looked at the appointment book that Arianna had left for her and noticed that there was nothing for her to do for the next 20 minutes, and since she had just seen Lucie, who was sure to ignore her as she hadn't seen Geoffry since 6 the day before, Melie headed up to see Emma and how she was doing, knowing that her friend was having a hard time dealing with the pregnancy. She stepped off the elevator and headed over to Emma's office.

Emma had been swarmed as soon as she had gotten off the elevator on her floor. Every nurse and doctor were throwing papers at her, files, and telling her numbers of patients that needed help. Walking into her office, she closed the door, and quickly jotted down all of the numbers that she could remember.

She kept telling Melie that she did not want to be chief, it was an extremely stressful job. Emma had been placed chief of the Magical Bugs floor, as soon as her old chief/mentor had died quickly from old age over night. However, if Melie became chief of her floor, she would be the youngest in 10 years, which was pretty cool. Yet, the job was stressful, she was constantly being called in, constantly filing paperwork, and sometimes she would just hide in her office until her pride re-surfaced.

Opening the door, she waved her Trainee Healers over to follow her around and make notes of how she treated the patients. She walked along the white tiles and oak paneled walls, popping her head into the different rooms to make sure her patients were ok.

As she passed one of the elevators, she saw Melie come out. "Hello again." she said to her friend, moving over slightly so her Melie could walk along beside her. Turning her head back, she stopped and told her Trainee Healers, "Now this patient I have not met yet, nor have I had a lot of time to look over her papers, so make sure you do not scare her by making any comments." she said, before opening the door, and walking in.

"Hello Mrs. Walkins. I'm Cheif Silvershade, I'll be taking care of you during your stay here." she recited to the patient. Putting on a fake smile, she reassured Mrs. Walkins that she would be fine, eventhough her body was badly covered in boils, and that her organs were slowly shutting down. "Now, I'm going to be checking in within half an hour where I will perform anthrosopy on you, but until then I am going to have you take a pill to help relax your body while the nurses are getting you ready." she said, before walking out and shutting the door.

The Trainee Healers had stayed in the room with Mrs. Walkins, leaving Melie and Emma alone. "She has about 12 hours to live." she said sadly, "I highly doubt the anthrosopy will work.". Realizing that she had completely forgotten to ask why Melie had come up here, she asked, "So what brought you up here? Did you miss me that quickly?"

Melie glanced at the trainee healers, she just finished training some and a new "batch" would be arriving soon. She walked next to Emma as they went into the room and Melie knew before Emma even said anything that the patient wasn't going to live, it was a sixth sense that she had about these kind of things.
As they left the room Melie glanced at the trainees and new that they were Emma's new batch, and figured that this would be the first death that they had to deal with, she remembered her own, and never talked about it, it had been rough for her, but she got passed it.
"How could I not miss you?," Melie laughed sarcastically. "I just had some free time before I had to do any actual work, and since I just dropped Lucie off I figured I'd come see you."

Emma laughed along with her friend at Melie's response to missing her. "I knew you guys couldnt stay away from me that long." she said smiling, before going over to the next room. Stopping in front of the room, and drawing her cell phone out of her green Healer robes. Flipping the cell phone, she smiled slightly at the background of her and Mark before checking messages. None. She was expecting him back from the auror mission within the next couple days.

"So who do you want to see next? The man that had a cauldron of poly juice potion explode in front of him or..oh." she said, as she realized what door she was standing infront of. Room 483, the room with the person that had a run in with a dragon. "Oh you'll like this one." she said, as she opened the door. Walking in, she smiled at the woman who was there age and had gone to Hogwarts with them. Martha Livesly, a Huffelpuff who was not very smart and always got the short end of the straw. "Hello Ms. Livesly. Are you meds helping?" she asked, as she checked over the charts.

Martha had been burnt by a dragon, badly, and was in the beginning of a pregancy. The odd part was that the dragon burns would not go away. "Here check these." she said, showing the charts to Melie. "I tried to get her transfered to your level, but they wouldnt let me because they were burns, which somehow fell under my catergory, eventhough I know nothing about dragons." she said with a slight grin, exaggerating the facts about the dragons. She knew the basic information, but Ms. Livesly could get out of here much quicker with Melie.

"Ms. Livesly, this is Healer McCallister, she works with this kind of stuff all the time." she said, before sitting down in a chair near the patients bed were she looked at several of the machines readings, taking advantage of the availability of resting, hopefully Melie didnt see though, her friends had been watching her like a hawk lately.

Melie walked into the room behind Emma and listened as she explained what happened to the patient. Melie took the chart from her and as she looked over it she noticed Emma sit down and take the readings off of the machine. She smiled at the patient when she had been introduced and the woman looked at her.
"You're pregnant too? Is there something in the water here or something?" Ms. Lively asked, Melie just laughed at the comment. "Is it your first?"
"No, my second. I have a 20 month old daughter." Melie pulled back the dressings on the burns and looked at them. She looked closely at the burn patterns.
"Each breed of dragon had an identifying feature with the burns. Most of the time, the burns can be healed with a simple burn healing potion, or at the very least a wound healing paste. But sometimes the body has a reaction to the dragon, kind of like an allergy," Melie explained. "Unless you studied Creature Related Medicine its extremely hard to tell which breed burned you because like I said, most of the time, the regular potions work. You were burned by a Romanian Longhorn. We have an antidote down stairs that I can have them send up and that should do the trick. We should have you up and out of here in no time!" Melie said happily. She glanced at Emma and started out of the room.
"Thank you very much," Ms. Lively called after her.
"It was my pleasure," Melie said stopping at the door for a moment before walking into the hall and waiting for Emma.

Emma finished looking at the machines, what she was looking at she had no idea. She just watched the heart monitor beep and blink. She really had no reason to even be in that area of that room except for the reason that the chair was there, and she was tired. She hadnt gotten home until 1 AM last night. Standing up, she began to exit the room before turning around.

"Ms. Livesly, I will make sure to have one of the nurses get that antidote to you as soon as they can." she said, before giving a slight nod, and walking out of the room. Stopping right outside the door, she looked at Melie, and shrugged. "I dont have any other patients I need to see right now and I dont have anything big after the anthrosopy..maybe I'll get to go home early today." she said, more to herself than Melie.

Looking up at her friend, she leaned against the wall, closing her eyes slightly, before opening them again. "So when is Liam coming back home?" she asked.

Melie smiled wearily at Emma; she too had had a rough time when she was pregnant with Lucie, but Emma had it worse. She put one arm around her friend.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be home at a decent hour and get a good nights rest," Melie said. "I don't have too much today, just a couple of patients to see and a few meetings. I'm leaving early though. I took a good part of the afternoon off so that I can take Lucie to the muggle zoo. She loves the animals there. Did you want to come with us, ditch the afternoon at work?" Melie asked conspiratorially. "We can send Scarlett an owl and see if she wants to come too?"
Truthfully Melie adored the zoo, she had gone all the time with her father and brother and sister, when Issie was alive. Her first date with Liam had been an after hours visit to the zoo, and each year on their anniversary they returned, not to mention the handful of times that they would go during the rest of the year as well. She heard Emma ask when he would be back and Melie just shrugged.
"I'm not sure really. It could be a few days or a few more weeks. It all depends on the tournament that they're in right now. I haven't heard any news about their last game so I don't know if they won or lost. If they lost then he should be home soon. If they won, who knows when they'll be home," Melie said with a sigh. She missed Liam terribly, like she always had when he would go away, especially at night. That was their time, the time that they spent telling each other about their day, when they made their plans; they would tell each other in whispered voices their fears, their hopes; pretty much everything about their lives. She missed hearing his calm steady breathing as he slept, the beat of his heart when he held her close, his arm engulfing her in hugs. Melie missed seeing his smile when he saw her and the way that he laughed. When he was gone Melie missed everything about him, and so did Lucie. It was a task some nights getting her to go to bed, especially when she wanted a story from Papa, he would do all the funny voices better than Melie, and he would sing her lullaby's in his deep baritone voice which was so soothing to both Lucie and Melie, sending them both to sleep sometimes as Liam would hold Lucie in front of the telly as they tried to get her to go to sleep on some nights. "I just hope he's home soon, I miss him so much." She didn't ask about Mark, she knew that Emma didn't know when he would be home, but the fact that there was no news was good, that meant that he was ok.

Wind and rain battered Mark's face as he flew across the English channel on thier way home from the latest job. He was at the head of the flying V formation the group of aurors had adopted during long flights and kept an eye out for anything suspicious. He couldnt help but keep drifting off and thinking about the mission they had just undertaken; thier team leader had been an early casualty and even though Mark was the second in command the people back home had decided to make someone else team leader and keep him number two.

Mark would kick up a fuss about this but it wasnt the first time he'd been passed up for the team leader role. Everyone in the team knew he was more than capable but the suits higher up the organisation didnt like the sometimes cavalier attitude he had towards his work, and felt that it might be dangerous to have him in a position of leadership and power.



The weather had improved dramatically now they were flying over the familiar grounds of England. Mark squinted against the wind as he started the dive towards the earth and before long they had thier feet safely on the ground just outside the minastry. After a quick shake of the legs to kick start the circulation the group headed inside for the de-briefing.

After the long and grueling task of telling thier supiors of the mission events they were free to leave. Some of the aurors stayed behind but not Mark; even if he did like the current head of department he hadnt seen Emma for over four months and that was killing him.

Mark loved his job and wouldnt change it for anything, but sometimes the long missions they went on really got to him as he hated spending more than a day away from his wife never mind months at a time. He walked straight outside and mounted his broom, there was no need to go home Em wouldnt be there at this time. Mark angled his broom towards the hospital and set off at full speed.

Emma smiled at the thought of the zoo, knowing that it was one of Melie's favorite places. "Umm..that sounds..", she was about to say good, but then she glanced up from the charts she had been filling out to look at Melie, but instead her eye caught something that went by one of the windows. It looked like someone flying. "..interesting." she finally said, not really towards the zoo, but about the flyer.

Putting the papers down on a small work table by one of the doors, she quickly walked over to the window and looked down. Someone had just landed down there, and it looked like a guy, but she couldnt exactly tell from her angle. With her heart beating quickly, she unlocked the window and pushed it out, allowing herself to lean over more of the ledge. It was definitely a guy, with brown hair and with a firebolt..

Pulling her head back into the room, she closed the window, and turned around, instantly re-grabbing the papers she had sat down, and walking past Melie in her rush to get downstairs. "Mark." she said to Melie, with a grin. Apparently she wouldnt be going to the zoo today.

Running down the hall, ignoring some of the doctors that came out and yelled at her for running while being pregnant, she came to the main area of the hallway where the nurses and guests checked in. "Take these to Dr. Hollar. He'll be taking over my position for the rest of the day. I will not be reachable by my cell or pager for the rest of the day unless there is a huge accident involving the world to come to an end." she said to the Nurse, making her point quite clear.

After the Nurse gave her a intimated nod, she ran over to her office and grabbed her bag, her tan jacketand keys. She put her tan jacket on and swung the bag over her shoulder, already heading off towards the elevator, waving goodbye to Melie as she did.

She caught the elevator just in time, right before it was going to close. "Come on.." she murmered softly to herself as it slowly went down the floors. Eventually it got to the lobby, and she walked out, pausing to take a look around. There he was, there was Mark walking up the steps, only several feet away from entering through the clear glass doors. The lobby was oddly empty, there were no patients and hardly any doctors scurrying around, so for several seconds she stood there, watching him, amazed at the fact that he was back. It wasnt like any of her dreams this time, it was for real.

Fidgeting with her coat, she pulled it closer to her body as she walked towards him. How quickly would he notice the fact that she had a small bump, that she was 4 months pregnant? she wondered, as she held the door open for him.

"Hi." she said softly, looking up into his eyes, taking a step forward and letting the doors close behind her. "You're home." she added, with a smile. Finally she embraced him, wanting to make sure he was real. She held onto him for what seemed like forever, as she nestled into him, slowly crying tears of relief and joy. It was him.

She felt extremely vulnerable, the wall that she had built up around herself for the last 4 months, quickly broke down with just one glance of him. Maybe it was because she could never love anyone more than him, or beause of the fact that she had built up the wall to protect what he was to her, his area in her heart that had been empty for 4 months, that she was afraid someone would take away from her if they saw how much she really missed him and needed him.

Taking a step back, she embarrasingly wiped away a tear before looking up and saying, "I'm pregnant." she said, realizing that it was a dumb thing to say because it was obvious. Laughing slightly at what she said, she leaned up and kissed him before stopping to see his reaction to everything.

Michael had spent months on assignment and he wasn't one to like leaving home for long periods of time, especially since he married Scarlett a while ago. He had taken the assignment reluctantly and with the head of the auror department knowing that Michael practically hated the job he did not appoint Michael as leader of the team. Michael had become more of a solo game rather than a team member and being back on a task force wasn't really easy.

At least he knew Mark, Emma's husband, he was on the team too but they barely spoke on the assignment. Being on a task force and not really share any time chatting with the team members was an almost daily occurance at the auror's office.

After the debriefing he saw Mark leave. Michael wanted to head home back to Scarlett and so he apparated back to their home. He wished Scarlett was home, he didn't want anything more than to just wrap his arms around her for a long time. He opened the door and walked in.

"Honey, are you home?", Michael called out.

Scarlett hummed a lullaby and rocked a carved wooden cradle with her foot as she braided Kat's golden locks. "Kat please look forward honey, Mama can't make your hair pretty if I can't see it." Kat was absolutely facinated with her baby brother and could bearly tear her eyes from him even though he was fast asleep and doing nothing more exciting than drooling at the moment.

Scarlett heard the front door open and wondered who it could be. Just as a spasm of terror had time to grip her the voice that she had longed to hear made every care over the past months evaporate. Lightened of these burdens Scarlett fairly flew to Michael's and launched herself into his arms. She hugged him as if she might press hard enough to somehow become part of him so that they never need part again. Her eyes overflowed with tears of happiness and relinquishment of stress. She had no words to express what she felt so she did not try.

"Um, ok.." Melie said slightly astonished. She had seen the blur in the window as well and knew it was Mark. Melie watched as Emma went running down the hall to the elevator and called out after her friend, "Emma Silvershade! Stop running!" She herself turned towards the stairs and took them down to the first floor and came out at the opposite end of the hallway as her office. If Mark was home, that meant the Michael was home, which meant that Scarlett wasn't going to be going with her to the zoo today either.
"I guess its just me and Lucie today," Melie murmured to herself. She stepped into her office and started to get her day on with, after stopping and seeing a nurse and telling her to send a vial of the Romanian Longhorn antidote up to Ms. Lively.
After that she was off, 3 meetings in 2 hours, and a quick visit with a favorite patient, a man who was always in to her office for one injury or another, and then she was back collecting Lucie in daycare.
"Mama!" Lucie screeched when Melie walked into the room. She ran over to Melie and wrapped her little arms around Melie's legs holding them as tight as a 2 year old could. Melie bent over, struggling slightly, and picked Lucie up.
"Hello sweetheart, did you miss me?" Melie asked giving her a hug and a kiss. Lucie nodded and Melie smiled at her. "I've got a surprise for you. Do you want to spend the afternoon with Mama? Just you and me? We can go to the zoo...."
"Papa too!" Lucie said excitedly her hands clapping together and Melie tried not let her smile falter.
"Papa can't Lucie, remember, he's gone away for a few days. It's just you and me today," Melie gave her a kiss again and set Lucie down, giving the top of her brown head a pat. "Why don't you go and get your jacket and backpack and we can go."
"I want Papa!" Lucie screeched and started to cry, throwing herself onto the ground. Melie just stood there, used to Lucie's reaction when she wanted her dad and he wasn't there. She looked at Lucie, tears streaming down her face, eyes turned a stormy grey.
"I know you miss Papa, sweetheart. Mama misses him too. But he'll be home soon," Melie said in a soothing voice, running her hand through Lucie's hair. She picked up her crying daughter and held her a few minutes until she stopped crying. "Come on, let's get your things and we'll go home for lunch and then the zoo okay?" Lucie just nodded, her thumb in her mouth, snuggled up against Melie's neck. One of the witches who worked in the daycare handed Melie Lucie's things with a small smile.
"Thank you," Melie said gratefully and turned to leave the room.
"Bye Lucie!!" Geoffry screamed and Lucie just buried her face in Melie's neck even more. Melie managed to get the door opened on her own and stepped out into the hallway, nearly running into someone who was going to go into the daycare.

Liam walked quickly down the hospital corridor, watching carefully around him. He wanted to surprise Mel and Lucie by coming home early, and he didn't want the surprise ruined. He decided that he would head over to the daycare and get Lucie then go surprise his wife, so he turned down another corridor. He watched the people who were walking down the corridor around him, casting him odd glances. He was still dressed in his Banshee Quidditch robes, with his long red hair tied back into a ponytail and his goggles sitting on his forehead. He figured that he probably should have changed before coming, but he figured that it wasn't a big deal either way.

He walked into the daycare just as someone was walking out, and nearly collided with them. "I'm really sorry," he started, looking up at who it was that he had nearly run over. He laughed when he saw his wife looking at him, and grabbed her and their daughter up into a massive hug. "I come here to surprise you guys and you're the ones who end up getting the drop on me!" he said chuckling. He noticed that they were both dressed like they were leaving. "So where are you two off to part-way through the work day?"

Melie didn't look at the person she had almost run into at first, she was too preoccupied with her sad daughter. When she heard the voice that spoke to her, she didn't need to look up either, but she did, and looked straight into the eyes of her husband.
"Liam!" She said reflexively. He pulled her into a hug and Lucie launched herself on Liam, her arms clinging tightly around his neck.
"Papa!" Lucie screamed excitedly. Melie smirked when he pointed out the fact that it was the middle of the day and she was leaving.
"Well," Melie started as she took his hand and started to walk out of the hospital. "Miss Lucie and I decided to go home for lunch and then take a little field trip to the zoo. She wanted Papa to come along, but I told her he was out of town, so it was going to be just us girls. She didn't like that too much," Melie said with a small laugh, turning to smile at her husband and daughter. "I'm glad you're home, its gotten hard while you were gone, the baby is getting bigger, so the bump is getting bigger and its harder to pick Lucie up. She missed you so much. And I guess I did too," Melie said with a wry grin, patting her belly absentmindedly.

Michael took his beloved wife in his arms and sighed of relief to just be in her arms once more. He held on to her for a long time and then just looked in her eyes.

"How I longed for this moment", Michael said and just kissed her passionately. He then looked up to the stairs and heard a familiar baby cry. "Come on", Michael said to Scarlett as he went up the stairs holding her hand. He went into the nursery and found Kat infront of the mirror playing with her dolls. He kneeled over by her gave her a kiss on the cheek and a hug which she returned. Then he went over to the crib and lifted his son up and placed him in his arms very gently.

"Hello Matthew, did you miss me?", Michael said with a smile at his baby boy who simply smiled back. Michael stood next to Scarlett still carrying his son, he then kissed him on the cheek and put him down on the crib when he was just falling asleep.

"I've missed you all so much, ever since Matthew was born and I had to go into that mission. But I got an idea I wanted to run by you darling", Michael said to Scarlett in a low voice as the baby Matt was sleeping.

Scarlett feasted on sight of her husband as her eyes eagerly devoured his. The long silent assessment of each as intimate if not more than the deep kiss that followed. As Scarlett returned Michael’s kiss her hands ran over on face, neck, chest and arms reassuring herself that he was really there and uninjured.

Mathew’s cry guided his parents upstairs, Scarlett clinging to Michael’s hand, loath to break physical with him until she absolutely had to. She clung on as he hugged and kissed Kat who was delighted to see him, though she let go when he picked up Mathew. It was worth it to see Michael holding their son. More tears trickled down Scarlett’s cheeks, which if asked she would claim were tears of joy, but really she grieved for all that Michael had missed while he was away. Scarlett tried to surreptitiously wipe her eyes while Michael’s back was turned laying Mathew down.

“I will listen to anything you have to say my love, but let’s let Mathew sleep. Come on Kat, and yes you may bring your dolls.” Kat tip-toed with all the exaggeration motions that four year olds love. Scarlett reclaimed Michael’s hand and led him to the parlor, which she had redone in his absence from shear boredom. “What is your idea?” Scarlett could not quite keep the wariness out of her voice.

Michael went out of the room with Scarlett and Kat into the parlor which he noticed had changed from when he was last here.

"You redecorated this place", Michael said holding her close and giving her a smile. "I was thinking, I really don't like my job much anymore, I feel I've wasted too much time away from you and I don't want to keep missing Kat and Matthew growing up. I was going to ask you what you thought about maybe me getting a job at gringotts or maybe putting up a shop in diagon alley?", Michael said and sighed. "Maybe a restaurant or something over there, I'm not a bad cook anyways".

It wasnt long before Mark had touched down outside the hospital Em worked at. He strapped his broom onto the familiar shoulder strap and slung it over to his back as he walked up the front steps to the main doors. As he looked back up again to reach out for the door a familiar face opened it for him.

"Yeah im home." Mark said as he pulled his wife into the longest and warmest hug he could remember. "And this time i promise not to leave on the next job soo soon." he finished with the worlds biggest smile still etched on his face.

Because of the closeness of the embrace Mark now noticed something he hadnt spotted straight away. There was a small bump in Emma's stomach stopping him getting as close to her as he usualy did. He looked down, his heart now racing at a hundred miles and hour and saw the definate pretrusion of what appeared to be mid term pregnancy.

Thoughts rushed through his mind, he loved Emma as much as a person possibly could, and loved the idea of starting a family with her, but having not known of the prgnancy before now the first though was that the baby might possibly not be his. He quickly shook the thoughs away, they had been together for years now, ever since Mark had asked Emma to a formal ball in thier fourth year of Hogwarts and he knew she would never cheat on him, just like he never would her.

Maybe Emma noticed him look down because she announced it outloud soon after. Something about hearing it outloud solidified the reality of it all and a huge smile appeared again across Mark's face. "Our own little family huh?" he asked before leaning in and kissing his wife, he was soo happy he didnt feel like he ever wanted to pull away.

Liam patted Melie's stomach gently. The baby had gotten a lot bigger.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm home then if Ms. Lucie here was so distraught without her papa around," he said, kissing his young daughter on the forehead before ruffling her hair a bit. "Since we're going home I can get changed and then we can all go out for a family day out, what do you think?" He was still in his Quidditch gear and probably in need of a shower and a decent shave, but he did want very much to go out with his two girls. He was home now for a good long while and he could not think of a better way to kick that off than Mel's plans. She had always been good for that after all, among everything else.

Scarlett smiled in a perfunctory way when Michael commented on the parlor. What he said after mad her want to burst out with peels of hallelujah's. She almost bit her tongue in her rush to agree. "That is the best news I have ever heard in my whole life. Do you really mean it?" She could see by the look in his eyes that he did. "Oh Michael you have made me the happiest woman in the world. I thought nothin' could beat a homecomin' party, but now that i find out it's a retirment party as well, I just don't have words." And it was true because her throat closed with tears of pure joy.

Scarlett rushed to the writing desk where her stationary was and penned to short notes. One was to Melie and the other to Emma, inviting both and their husbands to a party the next night. Dress would be casual and dinner would be served at eight. And P.S. she had wonderful news. A decendant of Scarlett's little bat Catch-can named Satch-mo came and took the rolled parchments to be delivered.

OoC: It would be fine with me if the next post was y'all ringing my door bell to come to dinner unless someone else has something to say.

Emma watched Mark's expressions very carefully, sensing the small flicker of a certain thought go through his mind. She didnt except him to react any differently, she had totally just sprung this on him without any warning. She felt him pull her in for a long kiss, and at that moment she knew that it would be ok.

"I'm so sorry." she said, pulling away, feeling the need to apologize for surprising him like this. "I found out the afternoon you left. I wanted to tell you so badly, but I wasn't allowed to contact you. So I had no choice but to wait until you got back." she said, wrapping her arm around him, and leaning into him closely as she began to walk back with him to the car, to go home. "And it is yours." she said, a grin escaping her lips when he mentioned their family.

Taking out the keys, she unlocked the car, and got in the driver's seat. "You do not know how happy I am that you are home." she said flashing him an enchanting smile before leaning over and kissing him. Starting the engine, she pulled out onto the street and began to wind through the city, not knowing if she should ask about his job or not. She wanted to know so much, if he was ok, what he was doing, was it succesfull, but she knew that as his wife, it may not be her place to discuss those things with him.

Mark smiled down at Em when she apologised. "I know you would have let me know if you could" he said before kissing her once again, still smiling from the good news he had just been greated with. They walked across to Emma's car and got in, setting off towards home.

As they drove Mark filled in the time by telling his wife all about his trip. Now the mission was over, or the first part at least, he could talk about it and it felt good to do so. He told her of the team leaders casualtiy early on and how he had been passed up again for promotion due to his sometimes dangerous and risky way of handling things.

"It's ok though. As soon as we get a new boss who actually understands the pressures of field action ill get the recognision i deserve." he said, the distaste for his superiors clear in his voice. "But i refuse to get annoyed on a day like this." he finished with a smile before moving his hand down to Em's stomach to feel the baby as she drove, and kept it there for the rest of the journey.

As they arrived back Mark walked slightly ahead to open the door. He had a feeling he would be doing alot of stuff for his wife now she was pregnant, but the event that would take place in 5 months time would make it all worth while. As Mark creaked the door open something flew in over his head and landed on the stairs just infront of them.

"Is that.....a bat?" he said with a quizical look before realise it must be post and indeed who it must be from. "It must be from Scarlett, do you wanna read it hun?" Mark asked as he grabbed the note from the bats foot and handed it to Emma.

As she drove along, she listened to Mark talk about his mission, looking over more at him than at the road. "Do they know how your first leader died?" she asked, thinking that that death was odd. She knew it had been a risky mission, but it was interesting that there was no information on the casualty.

"Oh well, it's over and done with." she said, feeling his hand on her stomach. Placing her hand on top of his, she said with a flirtatious grin "You're my hostage now.". As she pulled into their driveway, she got out of the car, following him into the house.

"Thankyou." she said as she walked through the door he was holding open for her. She looked around for Leala, her greyhound who usually would have come bounding to the door at the arrival of her owners, but instead she heard Mark's voice asking about a bat. "What-" she asked, turning around to see a bat within 2 feet from her. "Oh..it's Scarletts.." she said, taking the letter from the bat as she walked into the kitchen, finally seeing Leala who was eyeing the bat dangerously.

"It's ok Leala.." she said, petting her dog as she leaned against the counter, reading the invitation. "Scarlett's holding a party, and apparently there is good news to celebrate!" she said happily, loving the idea of any party.

_______________________ The Next Day__________________________

It was one hour until Scarlett's party and Emma was rushing around frantically, looking for a pearl necklace. "Where is it?" she murmered, pulling open every drawer. Finally she found it, and with a releaved sigh, she put it on, walking down the stairs to join Mark in the living room to leave.

She was wearing a pink empire waist dress, that concealed her bump very well. Her hair was well..interesting to say the least. She had woken up that morning with green hair and 2 different colored eyes. This was one of the side effects of being a preganent metamorphagus, you could sometimes not be able to control your appearance, now that your powers were trying to take care of two human beings. After 2 hours, she was able to change her eyes back to hazel, and most of her hair back to brown, though there were darker green streaks through it. Luckily they blended in.

"Ready?" she asked Mark who was watching TV while waiting for her to be ready. Going into the kitchen, she picked up the flower bouquet she had gotten for Scarlett and Micheal as a host gift. Coming back out and seeing that Mark was intensely watching a quidtich match, she waited.

She stood in front of a mirror on the wall and stared into it, trying extremely hard to turn her hair all brown. Finally, it did. Grinning, she fidgeted with her french braid, before re-entering the living room. "Are you ready?" she asked again, taking a slight interest in the match, the seeker was about to catch the snitch.

Melie was relaxing in a bubble bath a few hours before the party that Scarlett had invited them to the night before. The bat had been waiting for them when they got home from the zoo and Melie excitedly read it to Liam, and Lucie jumped up and down excited she would get to see her cousin Kat and the newest member of the family, Mathew.
Melie had been tired for most of the day, this pregnancy had been harder on her than the last, so she had asked Liam to watch Lucie while she soaked in the tub for a little bit. Melie finally struggled out of the bath tub and walked into the bedroom after toweling off. She couldn't hear Lucie's excited squeals from the nursery on the second floor anymore and she could hear heavy footfalls coming up the stairs. She assumed that Liam had put Lucie down for a quick nap while they got ready. Melie took her dress, a nice lemony colored sun dress, and slipped it on. She rummaged around her closet for a pair of sandals to wear with it and finally found them. Sitting on the bed she struggled to put them on her feet, but finally succeeding on what seemed like the millionth try. Melie was certain she was having a boy, she was already bigger than most witches were at 5 months, her belly was sticking out and the baby sat so low that sometimes she felt she would tumble over. Giving a sigh, she slid back on the bed and closed her eyes for 2 minutes, hearing the door of the bedroom open.

Scarlett hummed quietly to herself as she supervised the last of the food for the party. Though it was just friends Scarlett felt it was important to put on a good spread for the people who mattered most in her life. Matthew was in a sling that snuggled to Scarlett’s body leaving her hands free to taste add a pinch of this or a shake of that. She looked over her shoulder and smiled fondly at Michael whom she refused to let out of her site. Kat played with her ponies on the kitchen floor. It was a scene of domestic bliss if she had ever seen one and it was hers to live it. She felt like overflowing with joy.

Matthew started to squirm and fuss and Scarlett knew it was time to feed him. Then she figured she might as well get dressed. She informed Michael of her intention to let him have some peace and she headed up the stairs.

After feeding Matthew Scarlett laid him on her bed in a nest of pillows to nap. She took the time to dress in a blue and white print sundress. It was the perfect afternoon for sunning drinks on the patio. After fixing her hair and makeup Scarlett transferred Matthew back to his sling. She checked her watch to find that she had just enough time to get Kat into a lovely lavender frock and her hair into pigtails before her guests arrived.

15 minutes had gone by until the seeker finally caught the snitch. It had started with one glance 15 minutes ago when she was about to leave, and after that she joined Mark on the couch to watch the game. Grinning because the team that they had wanted to win, won, she got up, helping herself up by using the arm rest.

"We're going to be late." she said, knowing that there would be city traffic, and yet it wasnt advised to apparate while being pregnant. Oh well. Once can't hurt.. she thought to herself. Grabbing Mark's hand, not even waiting for him to argue against her decision she apparated to the front door step of Scarlett's beautiful house.

She was dizzy at first, and didnt let go of Mark's hand until the world had stopped spinning. "I'm fine." she lied with a charming smile, "The baby is fine, everything is fine." she said, before he could get a word in about how she shouldn't have done that. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek to hopefully make him forget that he was going to tell her never to do that again. Pulling back, she gently rocked once back and forth on her toes, promising herself she would never apparate during pregnancy again, no matter how late she was going to be.

Holding the flowers to the side, she let go of Mark's hand to ring the doorbell and grinned as a familiar little girl's face appeared at one of the front windows, looking out at the visitors. She gave a wave to Kat while waiting for someone to answer the door.

A little while later Melie was brushing Lucie's hair while Liam was upstairs getting dressed. She pulled Lucie's light brown hair back into a ponytail and then put a pale green ribbon in her hair.
"There we go Lucie, now lets get going, we're late!" Melie said excitedly picking her daughter up. Lucie was wearing a khaki pleated skort and pink top, with little miniature flip flops on her feet. Melie made her way down the stairs and set Lucie down at the front door. She could see Liam out at the car putting in a bag of Lucie's things and the coconut cake that Melie had made the night before. Melie picked up her purse and took Lucie by the hand and left the house.
Liam strapped Lucie into her car seat and then they were off. Scarlett and Michael didn't live too far away from Melie and Liam so it didn't take that long for them to get there and Melie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Emma and Mark were only just arriving as well.
"I guess we're not the only ones that were running late," Melie said tp Emma as she got out of the car. Looking around she didn't see their car and Melie gave Emma a stern look. "Emma May Silvershade, you better not have apparated here!"

Emma turned on spot when she heard her full name being said in a stern voice, something that rarely happened. Holding her ground, Emma lied, "We didnt Mark flew." she said, before turning around and staring at Scarletts door, waiting for it to open. She knew that if she kept looking at Melie's gaze, she would crack and eventually smile, giving away the fact that she lied.

Seeing Kat still at the window, she waved at the girl again, hoping she could open the door, and let them in, though she would probably get the same scolding from Scarlett. Emma had always been a little to loose with some rules, especially ones that involved her health. Maybe it was because she got out of tight situations to many times, or it was because the fact she felt invincible when she was around Mark.

Y'know Melie there more like guidelines." she said, still looking at the door. Nothing happened, and everyone was fine, so there was no reason to stress on it.

She felt several people looking at her, including Mark. Glancing at him, she decided to turn around and talk to Lucie who didnt know a thing about pregnancy. "Hey Lucie! Don't you look adorable!" she said happily to the little girl.

Melie listened to Emma's lame attempt at an excuse keeping an eye on Lucie as she ran up to the door. Lucie looked up at Emma as her mother said,
"Yea sure Em, just don't do it again," Melie said as she walked up to the door behind Lucie while leaving Liam to bring in the bag of Lucie's things and the cake. Lucie kept looking at Emma, a huge grin on her face and said,
"Auntie Emma, you bad," and broke out into a fit of giggles. Melie looked at her giggling daughter as she opened the front door to let everyone in, she and Scarlett were family and never knocked going into each others houses.
"Hiya Kat," Melie said when she saw her at the door.
"Kat!" Lucie screamed with an ear piercing scream jumping up and down at the sight of her cousin.
"Lucie! No screaming, Mathew might be sleeping, remember we have to be quiet around Mathew and be gentle ok?" Melie said to Lucie taking off her sandals and then letting her loose to go play. She took the cake from Liam and started to walk towards the kitchen.
"So why were you two late?" Melie asked over her shoulder.

Emma stood on half the side of the door step, staring at Lucie as Melie opened the door. She looked down at the adorable little girl as she scolded her. Emma's mouth dropped, and she started to laugh at the cuteness of the girl, but at the same time she was shocked. Turning to Liam who was making his way up to the house, she said "Your daughter is just as unbelieveable as Melie." she said with a grin, before following Melie into the house, leaving the boys behind to chat or do whatever they wanted.

"We were watching a quidtich match." she said with a grin, "The Black Crystals won." she said happily. Back when she first got out of Hogwarts, there was a year period where a lot of students traveled and relaxed before beginning the next stage of their life. Emma took this time to play Chaser for the The Black Crystals, a well-respected quidtich team in the female league.

"Hi Kat." she said, looking down at Scarlett's daughter who was already running by her to play with Lucie. "The weird thing was my powers acted up today." she said to Melie. She was only supposed to have trouble with her powers in the first 3 months, but after that she was supposed to be able to control them, but it had been almost two months and she still didnt have control.

Walking into Scarlett's kitchen, she looked around for her friend, and decided to place the bouquet of flowers down on the counter, not knowing where Scarlett wanted them to be put.

Scarlett descended the stairs, holding Matthew to see her guests leaking into her house. She was a little irritated to see that Michael was nowhere in site to greet them, but she pasted a pleasant smile on her face to welcome Emma, Melie, and Lucie. At least someone had had the presence of mind to just come in. “Howdy y’all, don’t worry about the noise. Mattie’s awake and ready to greet his adoring fans even if his father is nowhere to be seen to open the door for you ladies.” Scarlett noticed that she was not the only one to be missing her man. She wondered if Liam and Mark hadn’t spied Michael outside and gone around back to greet him.

Scarlett was not sure if Emma and Melie could hear her over the racket the two girls were making. Kat was as always very excited to see Lucie.

Emma smiled as she heard Scarlett come down and greet them. Leaning back slightly on one of the counters, she grinned. "Hello Scarlett, and of course, handsome Matthew." she said, looking at the the little boy, who smiled back at her.

"Aww.." she said softly, with a smile. "Umm I brought you flowers, because I thought you would enjoy them more than some concoction I call "cooking"." she said, pointing to the bouquet of flowers she sat on the counter. "I didnt know where you wanted them, so I just put them down.".

The girls were running around frantically, playing some kind of game that was either hide and go seek or pretend, or maybe both.

Looking down the hall, Emma saw Mark and Liam slowly making their way into the house, or maybe they had spotted Micheal nearby. "We're pregnant and we can move faster than them. What's wrong with that picture, Mel?" she asked jokingly, feeling her patience with her husband slowly beginning to dissapear as the day wore on.

Michael was at the back in his studio, he was putting away all the stuff related to his work and had began writing his resignation letter when he heard voices in the hall. He then stood up and walked out to the hallway into the kitchen seeing Liam and Mark there.

"Hi guys, nice to see you", Michael said then turning his attention to the ladies. He went over to where they were to great them with a friendly hug.

"Hi Melie, Emma. You both look beautiful as always", Michael said and turned to Scarlett as she looked a bit annoyed that he had not attended to the door.

"Sorry dear I lost track of things", Michael said with a small smile.

Liam stood with the others talking, listening to the two little girls giggling happily now that they had been reunited. He looked around at everyone, remembering back when they had all first met back at Hogwarts. They certainly didn't look the same anymore, that was for sure. But, Mel still looked as beautiful as ever, pregnant or not, and the other two girls hadn't lost any of their charm either. He chuckled to himself as Michael apologized for being missing right when he was needed and the look he was getting from Scarlett. He turned to the others.

"So, how's everyone been?" he asked, trying to make a stab at good conversation. He was never good at breaking a conversation open, but did well otherwise. He smiled to himself.

"Emma the flowers are so lovely that you can set them anywhere and they will look fabulous."

Scarlett heard male voices from the kitchen and Michael appeared. Instantly the tug of annoyance evapored. Scarlett realized she was probably annoyed because she wasn't used to Michael being back yet so whenever he wasn't right where she expected him to be she got a little scared, which with Scarlett led trait to anger. She made mental note to try to quell this because as much as she would like, with two kids to care for she and Michael could not be together all the time. Scarlett reached up on her tip toes to kiss to corner of Michael's mouth that formed the small smile her gave her, so that he would know she was sorry for being short tempered.

"I have been splendid myself, since Michael got home," Scarlett answered Liam's question, "but little Mattie's been kinda of fussy, haven't you sweetie?" Scarlett's voice reverted to baby talk and she tickled the chin of her son. He didn't laugh or smile. He was such a serious little baby.

Liam chuckled at Scarlett's answer. "Nice to know that you and Michael are getting on so well. And I wouldn't worry about Mattie being fussy, just hope he doesn't turn out to be some hotshot Quidditch player with devilish good looks and a fun sense of humor." Liam laughed again. He was quite fond of his friends' son, kind of like an uncle sort of relationship. He loved his own daughter more than life itself, but he had always fancied the idea of having a son, so he had come to treat Mattie as a nephew.

"I've been alright myself, just playing Quidditch and all that, taking care of my baby girl and the wife of course. How about you Michael, Emma?"

Emma smiled at the group, giving a slight nod to those who had just joined them. She laughed along with everyone, especially at Liam's comment about Mat and quidtich.

"Liam, I dont know about those looks, but you sure do still have your sense of humor." she teased him, only turning her attention back to him when he asked how she was .

"Umm, I'm doing well." she said, not knowing how to exactly sum up the last couple of months. "I've been swamped with work, but that's what you get for being chief of your specialty. I keep telling Melie to not take the job when it's offered to her, but they'll probably get her by begging. They arent going to let a talented healer slip by." she said lightly, before realizing Mark still had not joined them.

Turning back to Liam, she added one more thing as she moved her way out of the kitchen.."And Mark has apparently gotten dumber, because it seems like he got lost between the doorstep and the front door.".

"If you will excuse me for a minute, I'm going to go and try to find him." she said, before turning and walking down the hallway, and outside of the house, were he had just appeared on the sidewalk. "Where were you?" she asked, quickly catching up with him.