A/N: Thanks to LittleDufffan for the names (and for the ideas… you'll see that one we discussed). Told you I would think about getting them in the story. The link is up and working for the diary, and the diary has been updated. It is up to July 3, 1978, and gives more details about Lily's visit to the doctor (mainly stuff that wouldn't fit here). This chapter is mighty long, so please forgive.
Disc.: I own less and less every day.
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C36: The `P' Word
"I have to get out of this car," Sirius called from the back seat. "Peter's driving is making me ill."
"I drive just fine," Peter countered as he drove.
"You're swerving all over the road," Remus mumbled from the passenger seat. James continued to snore.
"I'm just tired," Peter complained. "We've been driving for twenty five or so hours now. Don't you think we could take a break?"
"What is out gas gage on?" Remus asked.
"Half," Peter said.
"No, then. Not until we need gas," Remus mumbled as he turned back against the window. "You've personally only been driving two hours."
"Fine," Peter said as he cranked the radio up and continued down the highway. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to be in control."
"Stop muttering," Sirius yawned as he too curled up to catch a few hours of sleep. "It's interrupting my much needed beauty sleep."
"Some trip this turned out to be," Peter breathed under his breath.
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Lily spent the better part of the day throwing up rather violently. So much so, Frank abandoned the girls in the hotel and went exploring on his own. Alice sat in the bathroom, a cool cloth on hand for Lily. Lily rested her head against the wall closest to the toilet. She looked miserable.
"So, you're late," Alice murmured as she handed Lily the cloth.
"Yeah," Lily breathed as she sipped some water. She patted her face with the cloth.
"So, um, do you think you're pregnant?" Alice asked hesitantly. Lily looked positively green at the `P' word.
"God, I hope not," Lily said.
"James would marry you," Alice said. Lily made a face.
"I don't want to be the reason that James marries me," Lily groaned.
"Come on you know that wouldn't be the only reason," Alice said as Lily gagged and threw up again. "Surely by now you should be empty."
"You're telling me," Lily moaned as she flushed the toilet.
"You know what would be funny?" Alice asked. "If you were having twins, and they were girls. That would be funny. Imagine, James being a father to two little girls? You could call them Hannah Marie and Cristina Anne. I love those names."
"Imagine James being a father at all," Lily moaned.
"Maybe that is why you are so sick," Alice said thoughtfully.
"James being a father?" Lily asked.
"No, maybe because it is twins," Alice said. "I remember reading in Witches Healthy that pregnancy symptoms increase with each baby."
"Oh…" Lily moaned again. "I feel terrible."
"Awe, honey, it's not that bad," Alice said. Lily shot her a look. "Ok, so maybe it is. Do you want to just go home?"
"Home?" Lily murmured. "I am unmarried and probably knocked up with an evil little witch or wizard, the way I am ill. I am sure that my sister will welcome me into her home with open arms."
"Right," Alice said. "Sarcasm: the sign that you've met the end of your rope."
"I want to complete this trip," Lily said shaking her head. "I don't want James to know, if he ever shows up. I don't know what I am going to do about this problem."
"You wouldn't get rid of it, would you?" Alice asked horrified. Lily hesitated.
"I don't know if I am even pregnant," Lily said. Lily thought about it for a moment. "I want to say no that I wouldn't, but to be honest thinking about raising a child scares me half to death."
"Didn't you use protection?" Alice asked. Lily nodded.
"I've been on the pill for some time now," Lily said. Alice looked at with her head cocked to the side.
"The… pill? I've never heard of that charm," Alice said.
"Charm? It's not a charm. It's muggle birth control. It comes in pill form," Lily said as she dabbed at her face with the wash cloth.
"Honey, you're not a muggle, you're a witch," Alice said. "I doubt that muggle birth control is going to have been much use to you, since you were having relations with a wizard."
"Super," Lily groaned. "I've been preaching safe sex and the whole time I've been contradicting myself."
"It's a bit late, but I can give you my book on contraceptive charms when at the end of this trip," Alice said quietly. She thought a moment. "You know, if you want, you and I can ditch the boys for a few days and head down to the beach to just relax."
"There will be plenty of time for the beach when we get to Sydney." Lily asked quietly after a moment of thought, "Do you think that they'll ever come?"
"I'm sure that they will, but it's probably going to be harder for them. James and Sirius, especially, since they are pure bloods and they're lost without their wands," Alice said. "How did you manage to deactivate the wands?"
"Just a simple date charm," Lily murmured. "It rendered the wands of all who agreed to come on the trip useless from June 30 until August 25. I mean, there are exceptions, such as danger to one of us, and then all of our wands will work." Alice shook her wand, pathetic sparks falling from the end of it.
"Well, it seems like everyone is quite safe wherever they are," Alice said. Lily laughed and struggled to her feet.
"I think I will go get a check up," Lily said. Alice joined her.
"You know where their medical facility is?" Alice asked. Lily shook her head.
"No, I'm just going to get checked out by one of their muggle doctors," Lily said. "To get it confirmed or denied officially."
"Can I come?" Alice asked hesitantly.
"Yes, but I don't want Frank to know what we're going to go do," Lily warned. "Just until I figure these things out, ok?"
"Ok," Alice promised.
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James was sitting at the counter of some dive, pushing his food around his plate. For the moment, he was by himself. He was really annoyed, though he knew Peter hadn't meant to do it. Still, he couldn't imagine how the boy had driven for eight hours in the wrong direction. In addition, James was angry at himself and the others for not realizing it sooner.
"Eight effing hours," Sirius said joining him, sitting down at the counter with him. James pushed his plate towards the other boy.
"She's never going to forgive me," James said. "I promised her that I would be there for the Fourth of July celebration. It was so important for her."
"She'll understand," Sirius promised. "She kind of expects you to have screwed up, so it's not unexpected."
"Great way to make me feel better," James grumbled. "My girlfriend expects me to screw up."
"I'm supposed to be making you feel better?" Sirius joked. James shot him a look. "Alright, James. Why don't you tell big brother what's really bothering you, and don't tell me it's the whole `I screwed up again' thing, because I know that's a load of unicorn dung."
"What if… what if she says no to me when I ask her?" James asked as he looked at Sirius helplessly.
"Well take her out back and beat her until she says yes," Sirius said solemnly. James made a face.
"You're not being serious," James said. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"If she says no, then you will back away, lick your wounds, and just try to be patient," Sirius said. He pushed James' nearly empty plate back at him. "But I don't think you have anything to worry about. You haven't been dating her very long, but she's totally in love with you. Oh, and she looked a little chunky at Alice's wedding, but you know five or ten pounds won't make you love her any less."
"She was not chunky," James defended. Sirius nodded.
"It wasn't that noticeable, certainly, but it was there," Sirius said shrugging. "It suited her. She's too thin."
"She's not too thin," James said. "First you say she is chunky, than she is too thin. You are so overly critical, and wrong! She's perfect."
"Oklahoma! We're in freaking Oklahoma," Remus said as he walked in the door. Remus walked up to them and took the seat to the right of James. He pulled James' plate in front of him. "How in the world did he manage to get us in the north eastern part of Oklahoma without us even noticing?"
"Where is that rat now?" Sirius growled.
"Crying in the bath room like a girl," Remus said in disgust.
"It was an honest mistake," James said quietly as he shook his head. "It could have happened to any of us. We don't always pay attention."
"We should be in Illinois by now," Sirius said as he looked at the map. He glanced out the window. "We shouldn't stay here much longer."
"Welcome to Denny's, boys. What can I get you," the waitress said in a sweet voice.
"Or, we could wait a few minutes," Sirius said grinning as he sat back down. Sirius started to chat up the woman. James had already ordered from her, so he chose to ignore the wizard chatting to the waitress.
"When do you think we should try to pull our little group together and go?" Remus asked. James glanced over to where Sirius had been sitting to find the boy gone.
"Give Sirius about ten minutes or so," James said smirking. "He's had himself a bit of a dry spell, but it looks like the days of celibate Sirius is over."
"James?" Peter said timidly as he sat down quietly next to James. "I am SO sorry that I made a mistake. I know how important it is to get to Lily."
"It's ok," James said. Peter forced a teary smile and reached for a napkin from the dispenser to wipe his eyes and blow his nose, knocking James' cola over the map and the itinerary.
"I am SO sorry!" Peter cried out as the three of them jumped away from the spreading caramel colored drink. James watched in horror as the ink ran heavily on the itinerary.
"NO!" James shouted loudly. He turned and looked at Peter. "I can't BELIEVE you did this!"
"It was an accident!" Peter squeaked. People throughout the restaurant were staring.
"If we don't make it to Washington D.C. in time, we have to move on to the next place! Without the itinerary, we're lost! Now we don't know where Lily will be!"
"Calm down, James," Remus coaxed as the boy gripped his wand, Remus' hand on James' shoulder. James looked at his friend and nodded.
"I'm going to be in the car, waiting," James said stiffly. "I am leaving in ten minutes, whether everyone is in the car or not."
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Lily sat with Alice in the tiny exam room of a nearby doctor that the hotel had helped Lily find. They had even gone out of their way to help Lily procure an appointment. Alice looked around nervously, not accustom to muggle medical practices. Peeing in a cup made no sense to Alice, nor did Lily sitting around in a paper gown the size of a napkin. Lily was trembling, but thankfully had stopped throwing up.
"This doesn't even cover me," Lily groaned.
"Um, don't take this the wrong way, but have you gained some weight? The only reason I ask is that you're all marked up from your pants," Alice added quickly.
"I noticed that they were a bit snug," Lily said shrugging. "I thought that it was all the fattening things Petunia makes for Vernon. I haven't exactly been eating Hogwarts' Healthy, you know?"
"I bet it's the baby," Alice cooed as she reached to pat Lily's midsection. Lily slapped her hand.
"Hands off," Lily said. "If I'm not, then you're going to feel mighty perverted for touching me."
"Alright," Alice said as she withdrew her hand as the nurse walked it.
"Hello ladies," the nurse said. "Dr. Wells has asked me to take some blood from you, Ms. Evans and then he'll be in for your examination."
Alice looked green at the sight of the blood-drawing process and quickly took a seat before she could pass out. She watched as the nurse left and the physician came in to do his exam. Alice looked horrified by the processes that muggle doctors used to examine a patient, all of the poking and prodding seemed downright indecent! Lily glanced at Alice, their faces flushed slightly.
"This is normal for an exam of this type," Lily assured Alice. "I had one done when I was getting my birth control pills."
"Well, Ms. Evans," the doctor said as he let Lily sit up on the table. "I am quite certain, but I'd like to do an ultrasound of your belly. It won't hurt, and we'll get to sneak a peek inside. If you don't mind waiting a bit, we can do it today."
"Sure doctor," Lily said nodding. Dr. Wells left and Lily turned to Alice.
"I am never going to see a muggle doctor," Alice told her. "I don't think Frank has even manhandled me as much as that doctor."
"I'd imagine not," Lily said smirking. "It's how they do things. They don't have magic wand they can use, just their knowledge and their hands."
"Still," Alice said. "You'd think they'd use a less cute doctor to manhandle your goodies."
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James' jaw was clenched nearly as tight as his hands, the steering wheel gripped in his hand as he drove. Well, he wasn't driving actually at the moment. He was sitting on the side of the road, the engine off, while the Missouri State Trooper wrote him a ticket for excessive speeding. Not just speeding, because that would have been quite enough, but excessive speeding. James couldn't even look at Peter, for certain that if he did Peter would burst into flames from the angry lasers that James would probably shoot out of his eyes.
"Son, now I want you boys to take it slower out there," the trooper said. "With tomorrow being the Fourth and all, I'd hate to see a group of you youngster spread all over the asphalt like shit on a field. Do you hear me, boy?"
"Yes, sir," James managed as he took the ticket in his hand. He was ready to murder Peter, if only he had his wand. As it was, he didn't know if he'd make it in time to meet up with Lily, Alice, and Frank. If they weren't there by the fourth, they'd have to continue on to the next location. Granted Peter ruined their itinerary, so he wasn't exactly sure where the next location was, but he couldn't focus on that. He needed to focus on the road.
"James, really, I am so sorry," Peter said from the back seat.
"Keep talking Pettigrew, and I'll stick you in the trunk," James growled as he headed down the interstate. The map, while completely soaked, was still quite useful to them and James decided to take as straight of a shot as possible. He'd drive through Missouri, into Kentucky; nip the bottom half of West Virginia, and through the upper half of Virginia. Maybe, if luck was on his side, he'd make it there by early evening on the Fourth. Maybe Lily wouldn't have left.
"Do you want me to drive?" Sirius asked as he watched his best friend with great concerned. James looked exhausted, having driven for six hours. James shook his head slightly. He was focused on the road, ignoring everything else but the road.
"SHIT!" James shouted as the car's tire exploded from under the car. James fought to control the two ton chunk of metal and glass as it headed straight for the ditch. James tried to jerk the wheel to keep the car from colliding with the ditch, but the only thing that stopped them was the hard packed earth of the Kentucky soil. The airbags failed to go off.
It seemed like James was waking from the worst headache ever, as he pulled himself back from the steering wheel. Sirius was just as groggy feeling, not certain how long they had been there, resting against the dashboard. James slowly glanced back at Remus and Peter, thankful they were fairly unharmed.
"Shit, I don't think we're going to get our deposit back on the car," Sirius joked as they piled out of the car slowly. The tire was torn to shreds, the rim bent. James sunk to the ground, head in his hands.
"I've failed her," James murmured into his hands. "I am a big failure! Why should she marry someone like me? I can't even tell the difference between Washington and Washington D.C. nor could I keep one simple promise to her."
"Cheer up, buddy," Sirius said as he slung his arm over James' shoulders. "There is always light at the end of the tunnel, you know?"
"Really, because I'm not seeing it, Sirius," James said with annoyance dripping from his words. "With my luck, the light at the end of the tunnel is just a train, coming full speed down the tracks that I am standing on."
"You boys need `elp?" A man called from the passenger window of his tow truck. Sirius slapped James hard on the shoulder.
"We sure do, sir," Sirius said cheerfully. "We managed to get our car stuck in the ditch."
"Well, I can see that," The man said laughing as he opened the door. He whistled long and low. "You've got a blown out tire too. Are you boys ok?"
"Just a bit knocked around," James admitted slowly.
"Where you boys headed?" He asked as he signaled for his driver to pull the tow truck around.
"Washington D.C. for the Fourth of July," Remus offered.
"You aren't from around `ere, I'd reckon," the man said. He spat on the ground a bit of the chewing tobacco he had wadded in his mouth. "Not with those fancy accents."
"No sir," they all replied in unison, well all except for Peter who seemed to be timidly hiding on the other side of the car. The man pointed at Peter.
"Is `e stupid or something?" The man asked. James nodded.
"He sure is," James said. "He's the one who got us lost."
"Well, you're not lost, son," The man said as he began to hook the chains to the back of the car. "You're in the eastern most part of Kentucky. Lucky you didn't have this problem ten miles down the way. You'd be in Virginia and they'd `ave left you here to rot."
The car made a squishy squelching noise at it was plucked from the ditch. Apparently it wasn't hard packed soil but thick, sticky Kentucky mud the boys parked their car into accidentally. Twenty minutes and a spare tire later, the boys were back on the road and on their way. Sirius was at the wheel, James passed out in the passenger seat after making sure that Sirius was, indeed heading in the right direction. Sirius drove straight into Washington D.C. just after dawn. Yawning, he stretched and gently touched James' shoulder.
"We're here," Sirius said. "And it's still the Fourth."
"Stop screwing with me," James grumbled as he jerked away, still asleep. Sirius jostled James a bit harder.
"I'm serious, and we made great time," Sirius said. "You can still spend the entire day with her."
"Really?" James yawned despite himself. He stretched and looked around. Sure enough, they were in Washington D.C. and no longer on their way there. His hopes soared. He might still save himself.
"In one of those rooms up there is your Lily, waiting," Sirius taunted as he pointed at the hotel that stood before them. "Let's sneak in and surprise them."
"That won't work," Remus reminded. "We need a key."
"Right," Sirius said frowning, realizing that Remus was right. The four went up to the check in desk where a man was standing there. He smiled in a falsely large way and welcomed them.
"We're here for room 308," James said tiredly.
"Three oh eight, you say?" The clerk asks as he begins typing fiercely on the computer, making frowning faces. "The guest in 308 have already checked out and left."
"Where did they go?" James demanded. The clerk made a face.
"It is not our policy to inquire where our guests go after they leave here," The clerk said. He was no longer cheerful or bright.
"I thought we'd have more time before they moved on," James said as he forced his hand through his hair.
"Can we buy a room for the night?" Remus asked quickly as he pulled out the cash.
"It just so happens that we have just one room available. The reservations were cancelled on it just twenty minutes ago," The clerk said.
"We'll take it," Remus said as Sirius led James away from desk. The clerk handed him the key and the four boys carried their luggage to the elevator. Peter hesitantly pushed the button, the door sliding open. Climbing aboard the elevator, Remus pressed the button for the floor.
"Here we are," Remus said loudly as he found the hotel room door. He slid his key in the lock and swung the door open wide, it bouncing loudly against the wall. "Room eight oh four. We'll catch a few hours of sleep then we'll go look for them at the monuments."
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