Late for dinner, always late nowadays it seemed. Ernie had no concept of time when it came to work and Susan being endless in patience allowed him to come home to her arms without chiding him too much. Today however he was in a rotten mood, work had gotten under his skin. A mismanaged reversal spell had caused them all to do lengthy paper work on the spotty fix done by someone who jumped the gun and didn't go with the team. Ernie allowed it to get to him too much, causing his previously chipper mood dashed in a matter of hours. He even caught himself spouting out at the mouth when he generally kept a cool demeanor at work, something Ernie was certain he would have to make amends for in the morning. It was just not something he looked forward to.

Grumpily he climbed the stairs to their second floor flat hearing their trusty dog Sprout scratch at the door. “I'm coming,” he replied glumly as he turned the knob entering the spacious foyer. The dog eagerly bounded onto him, “Down! Bloody hell Sprout what has gotten into you?” he muttered trying to keep his attitude in check as he grabbed the leash hanging off a hook. Instead of going to greet Susan, whom he was sure was sitting in the study, he took the whimpering dog out to relieve himself first.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later Ernie finally found himself entering the flat for the evening his mood not fairing any better thanks to Sprout finding a feline that caught his eye almost dragging Ernie down the cobblestone street. Calmly he unhooked the dog who run off to the study to greet Ernie's female counterpart.

Washing his hands he took the food from the stove which waited for him patiently covered and walked to the empty table. It was a bad day but he didn't want to take it out on his wife, she wasn't the reason he was up to his ears in paper work for the third time that week. Susan didn't tell Geoff to go ahead and try to handle a situation that clearly took two people. Trying to enjoy the last few bites of his dinner Ernie took a deep breath and stood cleaning off his dishes. In the study he heard the gentle breathing of his Susan.

She laid there snoozing on a small chair curled up in a blanket his mother knitted for her when they were engaged. He smiled feeling the anger slowly fade from him, “Hey there Susie Q” his voice soft as a whisper as he leaned kissing her cheek. Ernie's scruffy whiskers brushed her cheek as he slipped his arms underneath her. With a good grip on her Ernie lifted Susan up off the chair and walked her to their bed. Laying her on her side and pulling the blankets up to her shoulders.

Turning to walk away for another night of reading into the early hours of the morning, Ernie could hear her mumble something in her sleep. Looking back towards Susan his eyes danced a little as he turned to watch her breathe in and out slowly. There was no need to be annoyed anymore, in her little way she calmed him. “Sleep, Susie we can talk tomorrow...” little did Ernie know what she had been waiting up for him for.

Susan had gone to work early in the morning as usual, she had yet another disastrous night of spilling the beans as once again Ernie was late home and she was asleep by the time he arrived. Susan had worked trying to keep her mind of the guilt she felt of not telling Ernie yet, but it was hard not too. The more she thought about other things the more stressed she became because she knew things needed to be addressed due to the pregnancy and she honestly wasn’t prepared to discuss it without Ernie knowing first or Ernie helping her out.

During her work hours she had a lovely visit for Frank Pratt, which made her think just how much she needed to tell Ernie she was pregnant because she was not able to tell a friend good news. Ernie deserved to know before anyone else. She was determined to tell him when he got home from work, perhaps over a nice meal.

It wasn’t surprising that dinnertime came and went like it did. She left him a place in the stove and headed to the study to work on her book as she waited for Ernie. In the end she decided to curl up in the chair and sleep just a nap before Ernie came home. Sprout left her alone, even though Susan had forgotten to take Sprout of for a walk before taking the nap. Ernie had arrived late unknown to Susan and he even moved her into their bed without her knowing. She did eventually wake though as she lay in her bed and looked to the door to hear Ernie tell to her sleep.

“No, wait,” she said quietly and sat up looking at him. “I have been trying to talk to you for days.” Susan quietly said before yawning and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. “Can we talk?”

With his black glasses laying on his nose he pulled them off and stuck them in his jacket pocket. Walking back towards his beautiful half-sleeping wife. Sitting onto the end of the bed the indent of the bed formed beneathe him.  "So what is so very desperate that you need to wake up from such a peaceful sleep?"

His hand ghosted over her face and playfully tangled in her soft blonde hair. It was nice to see her awake, he was always so busy nowadays it wasn't like she had a chance to be with him like they both wanted. It was the way of two busy adults, Ernie wished he knew how hard it would be to be apart from her. It still comes as a shock when they are far away from one another for too long.

"Did something happen at work? Wait what do you mean you have wanted to tell me for a couple days...?" Ernie cocked a dark brow looking at her with curiosity rising in the pit of his stomach.

“It is something important and I am sick of waiting,” she said as he sat on the bed and she moved a little closer to him. How as she going to say this, how was she going to let this come from her lips? They were so busy that she could not find the time to even tell him that she was pregnant how would they raise this child? Susan was getting stressed just thinking about it. Susan wasn’t even sure how they could have slipped up; she was always so good with the potion.

Nervously she bit her lip as his fingers tangled into her hair and she sighed softly. It always felt so good to feel his touch. She smiled as she looked up at him. She tried to give him a reassuring look but she knew he would be able to tell she was nervous about something. She could not hide her eyes and Ernie knew her too well.

“You know how I went to the doctors about my flu right?” She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at him. “Well I wanted to talk to you about the appointment I went too.” Biting her lip once more she closed her eyes thinking about how to start this conversation. “It isn’t anything bad Ernie so don’t worry I am not dying.” She looked at him and leaned forward to kiss his lips lightly. “I’m pregnant.”

At first he thought something had happened at work.  If anyone had laid a hand on her he was going to storm down there tomorrow and make sure they knew what was what. It was one thing to annoy him but if anyone harmed him they were finished he would make sure of it.

But the way she looked at him, like there was something so much more hidden behind those eyes scared the hell out of him. "What's wrong Susie, you're scaring me...."

He paused as she said that she wasn't dying, "Well I figured you weren't dying. Being slightly green around the gills is never really a cause for alarm." Ernie, though all his schooling and training was not prepared for the bomb she dropped on him next. His throat went dry as he looked at her eyes wide in shock, "You're pregnant?" The words rang hollow in his head.

Ernie's hands fell to his side, the pregnancy itself was not as frightening as the fact that they weren't ready. He looked back at her, "But we were so careful... how... we" he felt the blood pounding  in his ears. It was like the ceiling was coming down on him.

Susan wasn’t meaning to scare him but the whole thing was hard to talk about right now. They were obviously not ready for this at all. Susan was nervous about his reaction to the bomb she was about the drop and she was not surprised with the shock that read all over his face. She dropped her eyes but quickly looked back up to show that it wasn’t of shame. “Yes I am,” her voice sounded weak as she was trying to keep back tears, she knew they weren’t ready for this.

“I know we were,” she paused for a second to think then a light bulb hit. “Do you remember that day you came back from the business trip?” Susan blushed as she spoke. “Well you came home and well you know.” Susan laughed a little at the memory.

“I know we are not ready, but it was going to happen eventually as you know I want to be a mother. I am scared beyond belief right now.” She headed her face in her hands for a second taking a deep breath. “Are you okay with this?”

The fear he felt in his heart was nothing compared to the fear on Susan's face. Like she was terrified that he was going to be revolted or scared off. His eyes focused as he tried to swallow a lump of nervousness that had made residence in his throat. No luck. He still felt it there blocking all the words that wanted to come out.

But she was there standing firm, she wanted this. She wanted a baby. They weren't ready not even close and yet here they were at the brink of the canyon about to jump.

"I... well... we..." his eyes met hers and he scanned her face again. How could he say anything against having a baby when it could twist that beautiful face. His expression was grim but he knew what he had to do, "We aren't ready" Ernie repeated a little bewildered, "But there really is no choice right?"

It was like looking down the barrel of a loaded muggle gun, with a shot his former world went black. "I mean well you know you have so much you are doing. Are you going to be okay?" He was going to be a father. He, Ernie, was going to have a child. His eyes drifted to his hands and then back to her still a look of shock plastered over his already pale features.

Susan looked at him and nodded her head. “The only choice other than keeping this baby would be to give it up for adoption.” Her voice cracked over the word adoption and she felt like she was about to cry. “I don’t think I could do that.” She looked at her hands as they twisted around the bed sheets. Her face was pale and covered in a mix of emotions. She was nervous, worried, upset, and scared. There was no happiness on her face like she had expected when she would be pregnant.

“I’m going to have to be okay,” she weakly let the words leave her lips. “I will have to hire extra help at the Greenhouse for sure.” Susan didn’t know if she liked the idea of not being the one to tend to her plants. She would have to find some way to tend to the new plants and the sickly ones as nobody else could do it right in her opinion.

Susan moved closer to him and took his hand. “Are you okay with this?” Susan asked hoping that the answer would be a yes. “I know you are busy too,” she sighed heavily as she spoke. “We are going to have this baby right?” She didn’t know if she could handle him saying no to that question. “You know with the way life has been going I don’t think there would have ever been a right time.” Susan looked up at him, “But don’t get me wrong I love my life with you.”

The distress it was causing Susan snapped Ernie out of the internal battle he was fighting. She took his hand and he laced his fingers with hers, "I know. It's just that I always thought when the time came we would be more prepared than this." It was not a financial worry by any stretch his family was old money, it was more a fear for his young wife and their current career paths.

The thought of giving his child up for adoption was not something he liked either. That was his kid in there, and he would be damned if anyone else was going to raise them. Bloody hell as if he could even think of what his parents would say about giving up a Macmillan child. He shuddered at the thought.

"I'm not sure if I'm all together ready love, but I know it's not like we have a choice." He squeezed her hand gently and pulled her into his arms. There went his worry and his nerves bottled up so he could be her rock. Ernie was going to have to owl Justin to go down to their favorite pub because he needed an outside opinion but that would be much later. "I know you love your life with me, is it only me that has kept you from being a mother?" Was he keeping her from realizing some unknown dream? Maybe he was more unobservant than he thought.

Susan’s eyes locked on Ernie as she listened to his words, “Do you think we would have ever been more prepared then this, we have always come up for some reason to wait.” Susan hated this was a surprise but maybe it was the only way for them to adjust their lives to allow for a baby. “We have our routine, I work all the time and so do you.” Susan shrugged her shoulders. “It just means after the baby is born I will have to leave my job for a bit but still keep tabs on things there. Eventually I can go back maybe take the little one along some times.” Susan knew as a child she would have loved to run around a greenhouse.

Susan easily moved into his arms it was a place she had never objected too. She nodded her head. “There isn’t a choice I know.” She wanted this baby even if right now it was a bit of a shock and a mess. This child was not unwanted but it was just a hiccup in the plan.

“It hasn’t just been you Ernie,” she was shocked he would even think that. Pulling her face from where she had buried it in his chest she looked at his face. “Don’t think that Ernie, my life has been just as busy.” Susan would not let Ernie take the blame for the fact that she had not been a mother earlier. “We were both not ready, we both aren’t now but we are both going to manage.” She smiled at him and hugged him close. “This should be a happy time.”

"So you are okay with that?" His voice barely above a whisper as he buried his face in her light blonde wavey hair. Were they doing the right thing by keeping a child they weren't prepared for. "Were we going to need a nanny?" It would relieve some of the stress on Susan but he didn't know if he wanted some stranger helping raise their child. It was a risk they might have to take since he couldn't very well ask for time off from the ministry what if they replaced him or worst yet gave him an assistant. He felt a shiver run up his spine. Ernie never wanted an assistant to help with his work, he had a system that worked well for him.

His mother was going to flip, she loved having grandbabies. In fact if he told her and his father he would solidify his spot as the favorite just for having a child for them to smother with their affection. His father of course would want a son for Ernie someone who could carry on the Macmillan name and eventually have more male children on his own. If it wasn't for the face that Ernie killed the chance of having a pureblood child by falling in love with Susan he thought they might very well throw a parade in his honor.

Ernie nodded, "As long as you aren't giving things up you want to be with me. I don't think I could forgive myself if I kept you from things you wanted." He kissed her forehead lightly, "I love you Susan Macmillan and we will make it through this I swear," he would be a good father he had to be. Surely he wouldn't be as strict as his own, or what if he was? Now the fear of the child was not as great as the pressure to do right by his wife and future offspring.

Susan loved her work but she was just going to have to work with what life had set before her. “I am going to have to be okay with it. It might be nice to take a bit of a break from work, even if I do love it.” Susan shrugged her shoulders, who knew perhaps her mother could help out a bit. “I don’t think I would be comfortable with a nanny to be quite honest.” Susan would much prefer to cut her hours and beg on bended knee to get her mother to babysit than have a nanny.

Susan smiled as she thought about her mother; she was going to be very excited when Susan told her. Her mother Meredith had been bugging her none stop about having children and when the sound of tiny feet would be heard. Susan knew her mother wanted to be a grandmother and it was looking like she was going to get the chance sooner rather than later.

“Ernie seriously stop thinking that way, you are not keeping me from anything.” Susan hoped he believed her because she hated to think he was beating himself over something that was not an issue. “Just come home more,” she chuckled a little. The feeling of a kiss on top of her head softened her nerves; she knew things were going to be okay. Ernie had that silly affect on her and he always would, he could just calm her right down. “I love you too Ernie, and of course we will make it through this, it is one more area for us to grow.” Susan was always the optimist and she wasn’t going to change now, they would work through this. Sure she was stressed but there was going to be light at the end of the tunnel.

At least Susan didn't want a nanny either. It was one battle he didn't feel like fighting. His mother would surely want to join in on the baby bandwagon. It was something about older ladies and little children they loved them. They adored the antics of a cherubic faced child as they scampered back and forth making a mess of things. "Good then we are agreed. My mum is going to adore this you know..."

He let out another deep breathe squeezing her hand nuzzling her neck. "I love you Susie" he said allowing his hand to find her still small stomach. How strange they were standing at the threshold of the rest of their life and yet still he didn't fear it, it was more nerves of what was to come.

"Ha, you know if I could come home on time I would. The other day I had some auror apparate into my office and crush a shelf... I guess I am still trying to get out from under that disaster" He was still grumbling from that. He didn't want to think about that anger though, not right now. "Alright we will have to make some sacrifices but I know we can do it." Ernie smiled happily as she clung to him.

“I know, just as my mother is going to adore this.” Susan smiled at the fact something good was coming from this. “One the plus side I think our mother’s might be willing to babysit.” Susan knew that her mother would beg to take care of their baby and Susan would gladly oblige, just so she could go check on the greenhouse.

Susan felt his hand on the small of her stomach and she placed her hand over top of it. Soon they would feel what was there moving, but right now it was just her small stomach. “I love you too,” she smiled at him. “Will you still love me when I am fat?” Susan joked as she was sure she already knew the answer to that.

“Really someone apparated into your office?” Susan laughed at the thought and snuggled up against him. “Ernie will you lie with me till I go to sleep? I know you probably have work to do.” Susan preferred when he fell asleep with her rather than leaving to go read or reading in bed.

"I have this strange inkling that your mum is going to have to fight off my own," he rolled his eyes at the thought of the two older ladies smothering their future child with affection. "I suppose when we go to dinner next week at my parents estate we can tell them. Unless you want to wait a little longer before we do..." It was something he highly doubted but he had to ask.

Her warm touch brought a new heat to his skin. They held eachother and he knew what was next. Ernie was going to be over protective and a worry wart over her wife, not that he wasn't already but once he decided something he was quite stubborn. "Don't even say that, it's not fat it's our child. You are beautiful to me no matter what..." he kissed her cheek tenderly as he wrapped his other arm around her pulling her into his grasp a little more.

"Yes knocked my ruddy shelf down and split it in two. Granted it was a few days ago but the forms were a mess and I spent that whole evening sorting through them only to get behind on my other work... you know how I get when that happens." He grumbled lightly until she asked him to stay with her. "Alright Susie" his voice was soft. Ernie released her for a short time, long enough to change his clothing into his night clothes and slipped back into their bed pulling her back into his warm safe hold. Leaning back onto their pillows he allowed his hand to play with her soft strands as the blonde hair spilled over his forearm. "I wonder if it will be a boy or girl..."