This cannot be good.

Severus rushed down the stairs. Harry was still glued to the stair halfway down. He too had been startled by the crash where Lucy had dropped the dinnerware.

"Harry!" Severus whispered sternly. "Back upstairs-Now!" He put his hand on the boy's shoulder and turned him to go back up the steps.

"But, Dadd…"

"Now, Harry." Harry dragged his feet and looked back at Severus insolently, but he complied nonetheless.

Severus could see Lucy in the kitchen, standing in in profile to him and seemingly staring into oblivion. She gave no indication of what she could be thinking, or that she was even aware of his presence.

Harry had let the Kneazle out of the bag, and Severus did not intend to back out now. After all, he intended to propose, he had only hoped for a scenario a bit more romantic than a six-year old child screaming out his intentions like a banshee on a bender. But that was the thing about life. It often conflicted with one's best laid plans.

It was times like this, when old habits wanted to rear their ugly heads. It took every bit of Severus' formable courage to keep from running away. If he were to ever to see a boggart, it would take the form of those he dared to love rejecting him. In Severus' past experience, love was to be feared above all else. It took a small child to prove those notions bogus.

Until five minutes ago, Severus was absolutely certain that Lucy would agree to marry him if he asked. Now, seeing Lucy standing frozen in his kitchen, doubt began to creep in.

What if she said no? They have only known each other…what? Five…six…months? To Severus, it seemed like a lifetime and he could not imagine the rest of his life without Lucy. For the second time that day, he reached deep within to find the courage to say something.

"Lucy?"

Lucy blinked and turned towards the tentative call of her name. "Severus," she shook her head slightly, as if she were recovering from a Stupefy.

Severus hesitantly moved towards the kitchen but stopped halfway when his feet seemed to have lost the capability to move. He said timidly, "Lucy, I want to apologise for Harry's outburst. It was not my intention to..."

"No," Lucy quickly interrupted. "That's quite alright. I understand," she added as took out her wand and spelled the broken dishes whole once again. "Children sometimes have wild notions."

What was that her heard voice...disappointment? She had turned her back to him and laid the dishes on the counter. Severus saw her hand move towards her face in a gesture of wiping something away. He heard her sniff away a tear.

Sensing what could be his last opportunity, Severus decided to risk it all. "No. Please...Lucy. You do not understand." Lucy still had her back to him and her head hung low. "It was not my intention...I had hoped to at least have a ring before I..."

Lucy turned to face him. Her hands were still grabbing onto the counter for support, her chest was heaving as if she were trying to grasp for air and her blue eyes were watery. "Before you what?"

Severus slowly entered the kitchen, stopped and stood before Lucy. He was transfixed by those watery turquoise eyes. He shyly took her left hand and bent down on one knee.

"Lucy," he hesitated for a moment to still his shaking voice. "You are the love of my life. And neither my life nor my family would be complete without you by my side." Severus paused for a moment, wondering to himself if this was all real. The words finally rushed from his lips, refusing to be contained any longer. "Would you give me the eternal joy of being my wife?"

Time stopped for Severus and so did his breathing. It seemed like an eternity as he anxiously awaited her answer. In reality, she had reacted instantaneously.

Lucy clasped her right hand over her mouth. Unashamed, she allowed the tears to run down her face as she nodded. "Yes, Severus! Oh, Yes!"

Severus arose as quickly as his knees would allow and embraced Lucy. He took a second once again to look into her eyes before he became lost in her kiss.

***7:29 p.m. ***

Lucy sat alone at Spinner's End in the Queen Anne wingback before the fire. She was anxiously awaiting Severus' return from the Weasley's wondering how he and Harry would break the news. She would have liked to accompany them, but it would still be another couple of days before she would be strong enough for magical travel. She berated herself for trying something as stupid as producing two Patronuses when she had perhaps eight hours sleep in three days. What had she been thinking? Oh, yes...Black.

She snapped the book shut that she had been trying to read, sighed and leaned back into the chair. She just couldn't concentrate on ancient Alba right now.

Lucy hugged herself as she thought back on the proposal. Severus' proposal had come out of nowhere. When Harry had ran downstairs bellowing out a marriage proposal so loud that God's own mama could hear it, she had become elated and then dejected inside of a single breath. She had nearly gone into shock.

Lucy honestly hadn't expected a proposal from Severus so soon. Obviously, he had been talking the possibility over with Harry, but who brought up the topic...Severus or Harry? After all, Severus had only just declared his love for her. Did Harry over hear the conversation and then come to his own conclusions? She did not want Severus to feel committed to following through with Harry' proposal simply out of a sense of honour. But when Lucy saw the emotion that welled in Severus' dark eyes, she knew his proposal was genuine and she immediately followed her heart and said 'yes'.

She chuckled a bit as she thought of the mess she must have looked like. Her hair in pig tails, she had been cooking over a hot stove, she wore Severus' old sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and she had been crying—and a terrified, but Severus on bended knee on the kitchen floor was the most romantic image she had ever seen in her life.

Sitting alone while Severus was with Harry at the Weasley's, Lucy also had time to reflect on how different it had been from Kenneth's proposal less than a year earlier. She had been overwhelmed then too, but for a different reason. Yes, Lucy had loved Kenneth then, but had he not proposed in front of half of the British Ministry and American Department of Magical Affairs, she was not sure she would have accepted so quickly.

Kenneth had proposed at the consulate Christmas ball, the same one in which she had been introduced to Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. At the time, it had seemed as an attempt to be romantic on Kenneth's behalf. He had looked rather dashing in his black tuxedo and white bow tie. Lucy could have been mistaken for a member of the Muggle royal family in her off the shoulder, silver empire cut gown with an overlay of faux pearls and rhinestones and a diamond tiara in her honey blond hair. They really did look like a fairy tale couple.

In fact, he had stopped dancing in with her right in the middle of the "Sleeping Beauty Waltz" and slipped the overly large marquise-cut diamond on her finger before he even asked her to marry him. Kenneth had not knelt down as Severus had done. Rather, he towered over Lucy, staring at her with his ice blue eyes. Every soul in the ballroom stopped and awaited her answer with baited breath.

Though Lucy may have looked the part, she had not felt like a fairy tale princess. She had felt the pressure to answer his proposal affirmatively when she was not sure if she was ready, but she thought it would only be a matter of time before she was, so why put off the inevitable? And to say 'no' at the time would have caused a scandal that she did not want either of them to face.

How could any woman say 'I need time to think' when a marriage proposal is given in front of nearly four hundred witches and wizards? It was as awkward as those Muggle proposals at baseball and football games-the ones plastered all over the scoreboards in front of tens of thousands of people. Yes, the gesture seems romantic at first glance, but what girl can say 'I need time to think', when all of those eyes are focused on you and eagerly awaiting a happily ever after.

As ashamed as Lucy was to admit it now, she had not regretted her answer until this past summer. Kenneth had been attentive, intelligent, and witty...and she had loved him. It wasn't until he had whisked her away to England and away from her family that he began to show his true colours. Lucy's fairy tale had quickly turned into a cautionary tale.

Kenneth had cloistered her away, like a prized Snidgit and he only brought her out to show her off. She vividly remembered their first argument, two weeks after they moved to the house near Sheffield. When they first arrived in England, Kenneth had kept her busy. He took her with him almost everywhere. They explored the nearby village of Wortley together and he had given her a tour of London. Admittedly, it had been among her happiest memories with Kenneth. But on a day he needed to speak to the American Ambassador in London about his upcoming trip back to the States, Lucy had felt rather lonely and decided to visit with Pawpaw. She intended to be home before Kenneth arrived and left a message on the mantle telling him where she would be in case he came home early.

She came home a full two hours before Kenneth was scheduled to be there. Pawpaw had invited them to supper and she was going to fire-call Kenneth's secretary to ask if he would be agreeable to going. Instead, sitting on the davenport was an image that chilled her after she stepped through the fire. Kenneth's face was crimson with rage. Kenneth told her he had come home looking for her after she had not answered his fire-call. Lucy pointed out the note she left, but he said he there was no answer at the Hog's Head when he called. Lucy explained that she and Pawpaw were out with the goats, she asked why he didn't just step through.

In retrospect, Kenneth's answer should have been her first clue that something was seriously wrong. It was the first time that Lucy had ever been afraid of a man. He gave her a cold gaze. He grabbed her forearm and jerked her close to him. She remembered his teeth gritting as he said, "I have no idea who you were with or what you were doing. Never, be anywhere where I cannot immediately find you."

Lucy had convinced herself that he hadn't thrown her into the davenport when he let her go, but instead, she simply fell. She also rationalised that Kenneth had merely been sick with worry that something awful could have happened to her, that was why he insisted on knowing where she was and what she was doing at all times.

The next six months in England had been very lonely. Kenneth was away more than he was home and called her at all hours of the day and night. Some nights she barely had much sleep for all of his incessant fire-calling. One day, as Lucy was getting ready to head out to the market in Wortley, there was a knock at the back door. Lucy was surprised to find the young witch who worked at the market for her parents at the front door. Kenneth was paying to have groceries delivered to the house so Lucy would not have to 'inconvenience' herself by having to go shopping.

Pawpaw and Uncle Albus had visited when they could, but the visits were few and far between. After a while, Lucy could no longer stand the isolation. When she had finally had enough, she chose to act first and ask forgiveness later when she accepted the post Uncle Albus offered.

Kenneth never forgave her. Instead her chose to distrust her. He did not realise or care that she was withering away inside. Kenneth wanted her for himself and it did not matter to him who he hurt to keep Lucy only for him...even if it meant hurting Lucy herself. Instead of keeping Lucy, he had only managed to drive her away.

The Floo roared to life, Lucy quickly opened her eyes and sighed in relief, she would not have to relive the old fights now. She put her book down on the table and smiled as her future husband stepped gracefully out of the Floo.

Severus' normally austere countenance morphed into a broad smile as he set his eyes on Lucy. She was practically giddy as she rushed over to Severus. Lucy threw her arms around his neck fervently accepted his eager kisses. There were no words exchanged between them. Mere words could not express what she felt at that moment. She loved Severus for many reasons, not the least of which was how much he loved her for who and what she was, not for who and what he thought she should be. In Severus' arms, she had long forgotten what her life had been and could have been. Right now, she was thankful to the Maker for what her life was and the promise of what it would be.

Lucy pulled away from Severus. She laughed when she saw the slight confusion on his face. She grabbed Severus' hands and walked backwards towards the staircase, dragging him along. He caught on to her not so subtle hint and followed. When she reached the stairs, she held onto the railing with one hand and held her belly with the other and began to run up the stairs. Lucy stopped halfway up. She turned around and looked down at Severus. He was still at the bottom of the flight. Lucy beckoned him with a crooked finger. He gave her a randy grin just before he bounded up the stairs after her.

Lucy tried to outrun him, but she didn't make it to the top of the landing before Severus caught her. His large hands cradled her buttocks as he easily lifted her off the floor. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She was lavishing his neck with kisses as he carried her down the hall. He paused only long enough to kick open the bedroom door.

Lucy found a man who encouraged her and appreciated her mind. Severus did not intend to make her his 'little woman.' Here was a man who was brilliant, romantic, and caring, he loved her for whom and what she was and did not hold the sins of her past against her. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty could keep their respective Prince Charmings. Lucy had the only man she needed. She had Severus.

***9:38 p.m.***

Severus and Lucy were lying in bed, in front of the fireplace. Since they had the entire house to themselves, Severus had decided in his romantic fervour, to bring the bed into the sitting room and in front of the fireplace. He promised Lucy when he remodelled the house, he would see to it that they had a fireplace in the bedroom.

Severus was sitting up, his back leaning against a pile as pillows. Lucy had her head on his shoulders and her tiny hands resting on his bare chest. There was a third body in bed with them as Thor had hopped up on the bed and was acting as a fuzzy foot warmer between Severus' and Lucy's feet. Lucy told Severus not to worry. The bunny would move on if it felt it had been kicked about too much.

Once again, Lucy was clad in his pyjama top. Severus rested his own head atop Lucy's. He breathed deeply, basking in the scent of her freshly washed hair. Severus noticed a change in Lucy's breathing pattern as she gave a heavy, satisfied sigh, indicating that she was beginning to fall asleep even as she was still in the midst of her afterglow. Although he supposed he should be falling asleep as well, he could not. His mind was still reeling.

He was wondering if he were actually in the middle of a very lovely dream. Surely, life couldn't be this good...could it? Severus closed his eyes. As his hand rubbed against her cotton-clad arm, he could still recall how silky her bare flesh felt beneath his. He could still envision her beautiful naked body, her belly swollen with burgeoning new life. The taste of her sweet, hard nipples on still lingered on his tongue, as did the feel of her soft breasts on his lips as the warm water cascaded over them in the shower. He could still feel himself inside her, her body reacting to his increasingly passionate thrusts. The echo of her cries of ecstasy still resonated in his brain. He touched his ear. His earlobe still had a slight sting where she had nibbled it whilst breathily panting his name. It had been no dream. His dreams had never been so sweet.

It was getting late. Nearly two hours of making love had taken its toll, especially on Lucy. They had decided to go downstairs and talk of some serious plans.

Musgrave would be out of prison in a mere eighteen months, if the man did not kill himself first. He needed to know that Lucy was getting on with her life. She and Severus had decided together that although she should to tell Musgrave of the engagement at some point, telling him now was probably not the best course of action, considering the man's emotional volatility. Severus couldn't help but scoff at the irony. He doubted Musgrave would be so compassionate.

They had also decided to adopt each other's children. This was a decision they had come to not only because of their own emotional attachments, but mostly for the sake of Harry and Felicity. If something happened to Severus or Lucy, the remaining family would not be broken up.

Severus put his hand over the baby resting inside Lucy and smiled to himself. Together, they had decided on the child's name only a half-hour ago. Felicity Imogene Snape. Felicity was the middle name of Aberforth's daughter, Mary. Imogene was the name of Severus' Nana Snape, the only stable adult figure he had in his early childhood.

When Musgrave confessed to attempting to kill his unborn child, he had forfeited all legal parental rights. This left Severus free to become the child's father without having to seek out Musgrave's permission. As far as Severus was concerned, the child was now his. The child was a part of the woman he loved, just as Harry was a part of Lily. He would never hold his children's paternity against them.

Unfortunately, Black might prove to be problematic. The former Marauder was having a hard enough time accepting the fact that Severus' blood ties to Lily trumped Potter's wish that Black be the one to raise Harry. If Severus thought that Harry would be better off or happier with Black, Severus would reluctantly cede custody.

However, it would be cruel to tear Harry away from the only place he had ever called home. Severus thought that perhaps somewhere up in the heavens, even James Potter had to admit that Severus was doing a good job at raising Harry. Right now Severus and Lucy were Harry's best hope of a whole, stable, and loving family. Severus and Lucy both loved the child too much to deny him that. They would not turn Harry against Black, nor deny Black the opportunity to be an integral part in his godson's life, but they would never give up Harry. Severus had already made plans to visit Black at Grimmauld Place this coming weekend to discuss Harry.

Harry.

Harry was so excited about the upcoming marriage; he bounded up the stairs of the Burrow, screaming to the top of his lungs, "Hey Guys! It worked!"

Severus scoffed. He wasn't exactly sure what "It" was, but was fairly certain that he would have never had the daring to act upon his attraction to Lucy without Harry's encouragement. Even without Harry, Severus would have fallen in love with Lucy, only he would have been too afraid of rejection to pursue her. He shuddered when he thought about the pathetic and lonely existence he was destined for before Harry had entered his life.

Severus had dreamed of Lily every night when he was young. He imagined them living in a far off countryside home, he a famous Potion's Master and Healer, she his loving wife raising their growing family. He couldn't understand why she ever wanted to do something as silly as becoming an Auror.

A horrific epiphany hit Severus. Just as Musgrave tried to coerce Lucy into being his idea of a perfect wife and mother, Severus had started down that same path with Lily.

Severus was suddenly reminded of something Lily had told him a very long time ago. At the time, Severus thought she was daft.

I think, if there is anything in the world that is worth the risk of breaking your heart over again and again...it's true love. When you finally find true love, it's worth all of the past pain.

What was she trying to tell him? Did she know his feelings for her and that she did not return them? Was she trying to tell Severus she wasn't who he hoped she was?

As much as Severus loved Lily then, he didn't think anything was worth suffering pain and humiliation. He thought his own feelings had been justified when his dreams of a life with Lily faded away when she tossed aside years of friendship for his a mistake, and with what he thought was the final blow to his heart, Lily chose James Potter, a bully, over her once best friend. Severus had truly felt unlovable and alone. If Lily Evans, the one person who knew Severus better than anyone else in the world, thought a bullying toe-rag like James Potter was a better man than he, then how could anyone find him worthy of love? In Severus' downward emotional spiral had plunged him into a living nightmare, when in his need to find acceptance, he became easy prey for the Dark Lord.

Severus found out something from Lucy today. Old Slughorn had tried to retire for the first time in the early seventies. Lucy's father had been offered the Potion's Master position, but he turned it down because of Allen. Squibs are not the outcasts of wizarding society in the United States as they are in Europe. Dr. O'Conner knew that his son would be afforded more opportunities in the States, so he turned down the post, and Slughorn waited another ten years before he retired.

How different would his life have been if he met Lucy when they were still in school? Would Severus have still obsessed over Lily, never giving Lucy the time of day? Or would Lucy have eventually caught his eye and prevented him from going down his Dark path? Severus was inclined to think the latter.

Severus suffered greatly during those years, but Lily had been proven right. The pain of the past had melted away. Severus found love with a woman he had no desire to change. He couldn't imagine Lucy being anything other than she already was and he would do anything to support her in her own dreams. Here was an intelligent, beautiful, and kind woman who loved him for who he was and despite what he had been. Other's can waist away their lives wallowing in the sorrow of dreams that might have been. Severus had the only woman he needed. He had Lucy

***10:17p.m.***

Severus had laid Lucy's head down on her pillow. He loved the closeness of her cuddling, but she had finally drifted off, and let's face it...the woman drooled in her sleep. He told himself that he was saving Lucy the embarrassment of finding she had left a pool of slobber on his shoulder, not that the found the thought of it disgusting. He also wiggled his feet against the fur-ball at the foot of the bed. Thor took the hint and hopped down to the floor, disappearing somewhere under the bed.

Still unable to sleep, Severus picked up the tome his colleagues had given him that afternoon. Flipping through the index, he found a couple of topics that piqued his interest.

Keeping his fingers between the pages to mark his spot, Severus closed the cover of the book and examined it closely. Making up his mind that he did not wish to field any uncomfortable questions, Severus took his wand and transfigured the book to resemble a potions journal.

He had only been reading for fifteen minutes before he had the distinct feeling he was being watched. Severus peered over the top of his 'journal' to see Lucy starring at him. She was still clutching her pillow. She had not been asleep long enough to drool on it.

Lucy asked with an almost childlike curiosity, "Whatcha readin'?"

Severus cleared his throat almost too quickly. "Hem...an old article about Oblivious Unction. Nothing of any real interest." Severus put a marker in his place and laid the 'journal' on the side table as nonchalantly as he could. "I apologise if I awoke you."

Lucy sat up and turned to fluff her pillow and put it behind her back. "Not at all," apparently Lucy's catnap had given her renewed vigour. She sat up next to Severus, with her hands primly held in her lap. Lucy almost looked like the picture of innocence...almost. She cut her eyes at Severus even as she was unsuccessful in keeping the grin off her face. "I don't believe you."

Before he realised what happened, Lucy leapt out from the covers and straddled Severus her hands pressed against his shoulders. "What makes you think I'm lying?" Severus kept his gaze on Lucy, resisting the urge to look at the book and thus give her more reason to believe he had something to hide.

Unfortunately, Severus had just been out-Slytherined. She distracted him by adjusting her position on his lap with a curious little grind of her hips and his body began to respond. Without taking her eyes off Severus, Lucy quickly reached over and snatched the 'journal' from the side table.

Severus tried to snatch it back, but Lucy was too fast and hid it behind her back and out of his reach.

"This 'journal', Professor Snape," Lucy began haughtily, knowing it drove him wild whenever she called him "Professor Snape." She made the term sound so naughty, and Severus loved it. She ran a finger down the spine of the book, sensually stroking the gold leaf letters as she noted,"...is too thick to be a periodical. And I noticed as you folded the pages back, which I know you would never do with one of your precious Potions books, and I do believe, that the font is too large and pedestrian to be an academic tome. You have transfigured a book."

Severus leaned his head back and covered his face with his hands. He chuckled to himself because he couldn't believe he was just caught red handed.

"Let's see what Professor Snape has to hide," Lucy playfully goaded. Still keeping herself rather provocative position astride Severus, she turned to keep the book out of his reach as she read. Her messy hair fell in long ringlets down her back, slightly brushing Severus' thigh. Even through the fabric of his pyjama bottoms, he could feel it. He knew Lucy must feel his growing erection between her legs, he could definitely feel the heat from in between hers, but she was doing a better job of keeping her libido under control than Severus was.

Of course, the damnable minx would read from the page Severus had marked for further reading.

"My, my, my...," she said tapping a finger against her lip. "doesn't this look interesting... 'perineum massage'." Lucy gave Severus a sly look then turned the page. "Oh and get this: 'Producing multiple orgasms in the expectant mother is physically and mentally beneficial to both mother and baby.'" Lucy shut the pages and clutched the 'journal' to her chest. She leaned over to Severus. "Professor Snape, I like this book."

Severus had enough. "Let's test these theories, shall we, Dr. O'Conner?" He finally snatched the 'journal' from Lucy and tossed it over his shoulder. He heard it 'flop' somewhere on the floor behind him.

"I like how you think, Professor Snape."

Lucy giggled as Severus started kissing her neck. He wrapped his arms around her and laid her down. It did not take long before Severus proved to Lucy what a fast learner he was