Daphne was lying on the couch with a wet cloth over her eyes. Her mantra was... it is wrong to hex children, no matter how stupid they are. This was going to do her in. This was her penance. It was so much worse than being in Azkaban. It had to be.

Junior had decided he wanted sardines today. Then he had decided he did not like them. Now Daphne was lying down and fighting the urge to vomit. This sucked. There would have to be a very freak accident or the Imperius curse involved before she got pregnant again.

Charlie came in hot and sweaty. He loved that the weather had finally taken a turn for the better, loved seeing the dragons playing in the sun. He didn't even mind being hot and sweaty, though he had a feeling he was rather ripe at the moment.

He was about to call out to Daphne when he saw her on the couch. She obviously wasn't feeling up to par at the moment.

"You OK, Love," he asked, being careful to not get too close. The smell of his shampoo had set her off the other day. He'd bet the farm that dragon stench would do the same.

"Your son wanted sardines. My stomach didn't like it."

Daphne sniffed. "What... what is thatsmell?"

Her belly rebelled. Daphne scrambled off the couch and barely made it to the loo before the sardines had vacated the premises.

Charlie grimaced and followed her into the loo. He stripped off his clothes and cast cleaning charms on them before tossing them in a corner. As soon as he was done, he started the shower and stepped in.

"Sorry, Petal," he called over the sound of the shower. "I should have gone straight to the shower. I'll be out in a minute to make you some tea. Or to hold back your hair, whichever you wish."

Daphne just groaned as she pressed her cheek to the cold tiles on the bathroom floor. She had seven more months of this? She didn't think she was going to make it. If she was not eating things that usually made her nose wrinkle, she was throwing them up. And if she was not doing one of those two things, she was crying or screaming.

"What did you do today," Daphne asked.

"Made sure the females had cleaned out the old nests. They can get a little lazy sometimes and not do a proper job. Which can lead to the next nestling taking sick. Also did a lot of mucking and spore testing. It's no wonder I made you sick up."

He finished rinsing his hair and stepped out for the shower. Daphne looked miserable on the floor. "Do you want to try for the couch again?"

"Okay," Daphne said, getting up off the floor.

She missed the reserve. She had liked working in the lab there. People had even been coming around on her, treating her better. Daphne shuffled to the couch, grabbing a blanket to wrap around herself on the way. She was frowning. She missed the reserve, and now she was feeling sorry for herself.

Charlie wrapped a towel around his waist and followed Daphne to the couch. Once she was settled, he tucked the blanket around her and swept a bit of hair back from her face. "Are you cold? Or hungry?" He hated that there was nothing he could do to help her through this. Not really.

"Definitely not hungry. Just sit with me. If you want pants for that, that would be good."

Daphne smiled at him.

"You're actually asking me to put clothes on," Charlie said with a laugh as he summoned a pair of pants. He quickly slipped them on and sat down, maneuvering her head to rest on his thigh. "Now I know you're feeling cruddy. You usually encourage me to leave the clothing behind."

His girlfriend grumbled a bit as he ran a hand through her hair. "How was your day, Love?"

"I'm not cut out for tutoring. I want to hex them. Repeatedly. Maybe I don't need to be someone's mother. What if I hex him? And we should talk about names or something."

"Tutoring and being a mum are two very different things, Love. Haven't you ever heard that it's different when it's your own kid? And you will not hex our son. If you feel the need to, just walk away for a bit. Mum had to do that a lot with Fred and George."

He smiled down at her and ran his hand up and down her arm. "I suppose we should think about names." He wouldn't admit to having a list hidden in his jacket pocket. "Unless you want to stick with Kid? Sure, they'll make fun of him at school, but it'll give him a strong back bone."

"No. Gods, what if he inherits my temper? He'll be the one hexing people. I've been thinking a little. What about Ferdinand?"

"A bull in a Muggle story Da told me once. Hector," he returned.

"No. It's too uninteresting. What about Ishmael or Plaedius?"

Charlie blinked. "Ishmael? Plaedius? Love, I know you joke about hating this baby, but unless you want him to hate us, maybe something a little more uninteresting. Gareth or Tristan?"

"Gareth maybe, but no Tristan. I knew a Tristan. He was a jerk. He probably still is a jerk. If you give a kid a jerk name, he tends to grow up to be a jerk. What about Ares?"

"The god of war? Sounds like something I would name a dog." He had her number now. Plaedius should have tipped him off to start with. But should he play along or throw out his own absurd names?

"Allard," he suggested, deciding to go with the absurd. "Americus?"

Daphne glared at him. "No. To both. What about Ian or Caspar? It has to be strong, but not ridiculous. Maybe Hilel? It's new moon in Hindu."

"I could live with Ian. Hilel just seems cruel." He glanced down at her. "Who gave you a baby name book? Abner or Macrae?"

"No one gave me a baby name book. There are baby name books? Like, it's a whole book full of just names? That seems dumb. People buy those? Abner? Where are you getting these? What book did you look at? Macrae? No. They'll think one of the MacDougals fathered him, and I'm lying. What about Jonah?"

"Isn't there a whale by that name or something? And, yes, there are books just of names. I don't have one, but I've seen them before. Walker? Paddington?"

"No, and Paddington? That sounds like an obese man's name. Obese and hairy. I think not. What about Astor? After Astoria? No, then he might be cursed with Sight too. Never mind. Thomas? Farquar? I think I just made up a word."

"Thomas isn't too bad," he said with a laugh. "Palmer? Bedwyr? Daniel?"

"Daniel is all right. Palmer sound like something you do to a breast. Bedwyr? Seriously?"

Daphne sat up and curled into Charlie's side. "I'll start a list. I mean, we have seven months to decide all of this, yeah? I haven't even started looking fat yet."

"We do have time," he assured her. "And something that strikes our fancy now you or I might decide that we abhor later on. Or the kid could pop out and we'll take one look at him and decide that he's an Upton or a Caelan or a Nicholas. It'll work out in the end, Love. Promise."

Daphne sat up straight and looked at him. "I like Nicholas too. I'll make sure it's on the list."

It was nice to her that on some level they did have things in common. She cared for Charlie and was so terrified of doing all of this wrong. Daphne was certain she would mess up, and he would leave.

"You do that, Petal. Now, feel a bit better? Want to try some dinner? I know there's celery and marshmallow creme in the kitchen. Mum sent over some the other day just to be sure."

Daphne smiled. She was really beginning to like Charlie's mum.

"You eat. I'm not hungry... for food."

Upside to being pregnant? You didn't have to worry about getting pregnant.

Charlie quirked a brow. "Oh, so now you want me sans pants," he teased as he lifted her into his lap. "What if I'm more interested in food than shagging?"

"Well, I'm hoping I can change your mind," Daphne teased, wiggling on his lap a little before kissing him.
Charlie's body was all for the shagging idea, as it normally was. He could never get enough of Daphne, which was good. As long as it didn't lead to seven kids. At least, not unless she was willing to have that many. Personally, with Daphne, he would be fine with as many or as few as she wanted.

"Won't upset your stomach, will it," he asked, picking her up and wrapping her slim legs around his waist. "All that bouncing around?"

"The stench from earlier rid me of the belly poisons."

She flinched at her own words.

"No, I'm all right. I just want to be with you."

"That I can do, Love," he assured her as he carried her towards their bedroom.





[Summary: Charlie and Daphne discuss baby names.]