The Cat's Pyjamas

The other side of the bed was empty. The beds could easily fit two people in them and the extra part that Eli didn't need was empty. He missed Chase. He missed wrapping himself around her and waking up somehow having moved onto his back and she onto his chest. Eli adored his mornings with her, and then nights. He hated this...this...loneliness. He wanted her. He wanted to see her. He wanted to know that she was where she was meant to be. Well, at present she most definitely wasn't. But ... she would be.

So, creeping out of the Slytherin Dungeons, Elijah danced along the corridor towards the Hufflepuff part of the dungeon. The air began to grow thicker and warmer as he neared and a smile lit up his features. He stopped outside the portrait and knocked on it, waking up the person in the portrait. They grumbled and Elijah, still privy to the passwords thanks to the Imperium Squad -- or what was left of it -- gained access.

He bounced into the yellow and black common room and headed straight for the girls dormitories. He morphed down into his Animagus form and bounced down the stairs. He pushed open the door when he was at the bottom and hit it shut with his tail upon entering.

Elijah transfigured himself back and looked around, searching the beds for Chase. He spotted her, asleep near and open window. He smiled and crossed the room. He stopped at the window first. He closed it, hooking the latch into place, before walking around the side of the bed so he was behind Chase.

Elijah crawled onto the bed and wrapped his arm around her waist. He pulled the covers over them and buried his face in her hair which was splayed out over the pillow. He kissed the patch of skin behind her ear and whispered "I love you" to her before closing his eyes, intent on getting some sleep.

Chase was having a lovely dream. She was flying on a broomstick, somehow over the Forbidden Forest, flying faster and faster, the wind flew through her hair, and she was laughing with joy of the feeling. Suddenly she came to stop by the Whomping Willow, a beastly tree with branches that would hit you if you got to close. But as Chase neared, it didn't move, she walked under it's branches, the light touch of the willow caressing her back. Passing beneath it's branches, she found herself in an odd tunnel. It was dark, and she walked along it, the air getting stuffy, and her face flushed from the walk.

Suddenly words reverberated around her, soft as a whisper, a feather touch on her skin. "I love you.." The words were coming from ahead of her, and she ran down the tunnel, seeing a bright light at the end, and when she emerged, her eyes snapped open and she listened for a long moment to the dark room. Her dorm mates were sound asleep, and she was laying on her side, facing the window and her dresser. It took her a moment to get her barrings and when she did, she realized that someone had their arms around her middle. Panic seized her and she found herself shivering as she very carefully turned over.

Relief spread through her veins when she realized who was there, and she shook her head, giving a soft shaky laugh. She sighed and shook her head. How he had gotten in she wasn't sure, and why he was even there she wasn't sure, but she was happy to see him. Turning over gently, she snuggled up against his chest, closing her eyes and inhaling. People spoke a lot about him, she wondered sometimes whether he loved her or not, but when he did things like this.. well it made her heart feel a million times bigger, and every part of it was taken up by Love for Elijah. Smiling she snuggled in closer and closed her eyes, content to be in his arms, before she had to shoo him out so that he wasn't discovered in her common rooms, let alone her dorm.

The movement beside Elijah stalled his slumber. He grumbled and tightened his grip on Chase, bringing his hand up to rest on her stomach. It was a protective gesture. Even through his fatigue, the desire to protect his girls was present and raw.

He grumbled again as Chase moved but this time, the grumble turned into a small whimper. Elijah moved his head against the pillow and sighed as Chase continued to move. She settled soon enough and Elijah moved down a little, so she was the higher up of the two. She was still snuggled tight against his chest but Elijah had moved enough, and turned himself at an angle, which allowed his head to rest in the crook of her neck underneath her chin.

Elijah sighed against her neck. He was acutely aware of the baby between them and it made him smile somewhat. Kitty was where she was supposed to be. Not necessarily inside of Chase but with them, in the most convenient form for her. It wouldn't be long until Chase would give birth. Eli was becoming more and more anxious by the day and he didn't know what he was going to do when she did give birth.

Elijah felt something move, somewhere in the vicinity of Chase's stomach, and he was immediately alert. He slipped further down the bed and placed his hands on her stomach, pressing gently against the flesh in search of Kitty.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty...did you move?" Elijah tapped his long fingers against Chase's stomach and waited, wondering if anything would happen. And it did. Three taps back. Elijah's eyes widened and he tapped again, experimenting with this new found mode of communication. Kitty tapped back. This time it was four beats. It seemed as if she was turning over as well. She wanted her daddy to leave her alone.

Elijah smiled. "I'm sorry baby." Elijah kissed Chase's stomach, murmured goodnight and wound his arms back around his fiancée. "How much does she move?" Elijah queried with a yawn, knowing Chase would probably be awake now. He pressed his lips to her head and apologized. "I'm sorry for waking you. Shall we go back to sleep?"

(Can I godmod an NPC? xD Merr. Kitty communication! Yay!)

Chase smiled as Elijah moved around to get more comfortable, and his hand came to rest on her protruding stomach. Which at the moment was out for the world to see, seeing as she was in bed, with curtains drawn around her. Chase watched as he moved down so that he was by her stomach, and then felt a rather large thumping feeling in her stomach. "I think you're annoying her." She whispered with a grin, looking down and feeling the baby move around some more before settling.

"She likes to kick me when I'm not expecting it that's for sure... Walking to class I get the feeling she doesn't like all the noise, she kicks me the most then.. and it's a lot harder then too.. like making sure I still remember she's there." She said with a small laugh, keeping her voice down so as not to wake her dorm mates. "I'd like to go back to sleep, but I don't think I can! I don't get to see you as often as I want to... so being with you is nice." She said and moved closer, nestling her head up against his chest and intertwining her legs with his. She rested her warm feet up against his leg and smiled.

"What brings you to my dorm this late mister? I thought the hufflepuff common room.... and the girls dorms were off limits to Slytherin males? Or was that just a common misconception?" she asked with a soft giggle, wrapping her arms around his middle, she grinned, and let the only thing between them be Kitty. Who was moving around an awful lot now, and was starting to make her vaguely aware of an odd thumping pain in her lower abdomen. She frowned and put her hand to her stomach, biting her lip, feeling it slowly ease to a soft ache. "That's odd.. never happened be...." She was cut off by an extremely intense pain in her abdomen. "Oh!" She gasped and sat up, her hands circling her stomach.

"Oh my god.." She whispered, her breath catching, her forehead immediately breaking out into a cold sweat. "Elijah..." she whispered, grabbing his hand quickly, her eyes staring at her stomach as she felt the pain disappear, and it almost was like it was never there. "Elijah..." She whispered and her eyes went wide. "I think.... I think.." She stopped and her eyes searched his for a long long moment.

"I think I'm going into labor.." She said, and felt another wave of pain hit her hard.

There was something deliciously scandalous about sneaking into his fiancée's bed in the middle of the night. Elijah was enjoying the thrill of it. He knew his time would be short and that if anything, he'd have to get up in a few hours time just to sneak back across to the Slytherin dungeons. He should have been able to stay there though, with the woman he loved and the child he adored. But he knew, just as Chase knew, that life would have to go on again. No one could know he'd spent the night there for fear of several deaths in the Hufflepuff house.

How interesting that would be.

Elijah chuckled and kissed Chase's stomach. His fingers danced across her skin, barely touching the surface. Kitty, as responsive as ever, kicked back and Elijah grinned. Chase was probably right, he was no doubt annoying her. He liked that prospect though. He liked knowing that even with liquid and flesh and goodness knows what else between them, he could still annoy the hell out of his daughter. He could only do but imagine sitting at the foot of her cot in the mornings, tickling her feet until she kicked him in the face.

That was another thing Elijah needed to tell Chase on top of everything else. The enthusiastic grandfather had been kind and the enthusiastic great-grandfather had been even kinder. The two had bought them a house. Well, Viktor had bought the house, Anton had bought the stuff to go in it. It was lavishly furnished, stupidly so.

It reminded him a lot of the Manor but he'd already made his mark on it. There were tell-tale signs that daddy had been in the house. There were tell-tale signs that the children already had been too. Everything was painted, they all had their rooms. Elijah just had yet to mention it. Whatever the outcome, he'd have Fauve and Thierry out of Bulgaria and under his observation which was the way it needed to be if Thierry insisted on breaking bones at every twist and turn -- the little sod.

"She's going to be a drunk, just like her father." Elijah mumbled, kissing Chase's neck. "Might not be such a bad thing if she's got the same artistic flare and sex-" Elijah paused and then it dawned on him. Sex drive. She'd have the Krum sex drive. They all had it. It was a trait that was impossible to avoid along with being insanely charismatic, beautiful and downright fantastic. But who was Eli to brag? The point was that if his Kitty had that trait then she wasn't going to be let out of the house until she was at least fifty-five.

"I will bolt every window and make sure she can't get out. I will not have my daughter traipsing around screwing everyone within arms reach." After that statement, Elijah groaned loudly, knowing how ridiculous he sounded. It was almost pitiful. "Ignore me! I am full of bullshit. It makes me...so happy." Elijah chuckled and leaned down to kiss Chase before adding, "I'm serious though. Drunk artists I can handle. I cannot however be dealing with randy drunk artists that are also female and are bound to be overly emotional while intoxicated."

What on earth was he babbling about? There was a good chance that Kitty wasn't going to end up like her father or her grandfather or, even worse, her grandmother. She could get a good job at Gringott's or something equally boring yet sensible. What was he kidding? She was a Krum. The only slightly normal one was his great-aunt Rada and she took vodka shots with her tea!

"The dorms are," Elijah waved his hand, unable to find the words to elaborate with. "only off-limits if you think you are." He added after a moment. "As it is, I came in search of you with the right amount of optimism and...here I am!" Elijah smiled and kissed her chastely on the lips before allowing her to take him into her arms. Elijah rested his head in the crook of Chase's neck and sighed, content.

The peace did not last long. Elijah was promptly dropped against the pillows as Chase sat up. Mumbling incoherently to himself, Elijah pushed himself up and looked at her with concern.

"Chase I'm sure it's nothing. Baby, lay down...she's probably just turning over or something....sleep. I'm sure your back needs rest. She doesn't look like she's light." Elijah was tired now. He was beginning to get less and less coherent but what she said next was enough of a wake up call for anyone.

Elijah rested his head back against the pillows and let her take his hand. He pursed his lips and peered curiously at her swollen stomach. Everything looked alright. Elijah closed his eyes and hummed in response to what she was saying, not really listening, his mind turning back to rest.

"You're fine, you're fine. Kitty doesn't want to come out yet. Who would? You've got free food coming in regular-like and you're nice and warm. Then again, who really wants to be floating around in some sort of- wait what!?"

Elijah nigh on flew out of the bed, managing to hit his head on the wooden overhang. Cursing, Eli's hand went to the back of his head. He looked at Chase in disbelief, then Kitty, then Chase again. Then it dawned on him. That baby was coming.

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph...we've...we've..." Elijah's hands flew into his hair and he gripped the roots for what' felt like dear life. "Oh my God...oh my God...oh my God...is there like...a procedure for this? Do we need to go to the Hospital Wing? Do we add to the embarrassing stories we can tell in front of potential lovers by letting you have Kitty in a freezing cold dungeon in the middle of the night?"

What was he saying!?

"NO! We can't do that! That's ridiculous! Have your waters broken? Should I pack a bag? Should I go and get Elldir? Should I...oh my God...I'm going to be a father...I...shit...holy mother of god. We need to get you to a hospital!"

Elijah at first didn't seem to understand what was happening. Saying something about her being happy in there, food all regular, and safe and warm, and then she watched as the light flicked on, and he sprung out of the bed, nearly taking her hangings down with him. "Elijah shhh! It's going to be alright!" She said and quickly tried to get out of bed. "Please.. I got a bag already in case this happened.." She said and struggled to stand up, having to sit down as another wave of pain hit her. She knew she was supposed to count between the contractions, but how could she count when she was trying to think over Elijah's flip out session.

"The baby isn't coming NOW, my water hasn't broken.. I've started.... ohhh my god.... I've started... to contract is all.." She said with a gasp. "It'll be a few hours until... until she's here..." She said and gasped, using the bedpost to help herself stand up. "Under my bed... bag..." She said and suddenly heard rustling around her, her dorm mates were waking up. "Quickly! Go Animagus! Now!" She gasped and put her hand on her stomach, "I'll say your just conjured for this.. now go!" She said and bent down to grab the bag from under her bed. "Is everything alright Chase?" A sleepy voice said from another bed. Chase had to wait to respond and finally said. "No... baby is coming..." She said, and suddenly there was a mad dash for the lights to be turned on, and girls in various states of undress emerged from their beds, hair messy, and panicked expressions on their faces. "Chase oh my god, the baby is coming? Oh wow! We have to tell a professor! I'll go!" Everyone was talking at once and it was making Chase really frustrated.

She was supposed to be counting, and it was extremely hard to count with all this fuss. Best get to the hospital now before she really had to worry about just dropping her baby on the ground. People started to move all around her, wiping the sweat off of her face, packing her bag, making sure her toothbrush was there, pulling her hair back. Chase was shaking heavily and was gasping out numbers aloud, trying to time the contractions.Which seemed to be happening way to quickly for her first ones, she must have been having small ones for hours while she was asleep, and didn't notice them. "Elijah.." She whispered and then stood up as a girl came back in to help her out of the dorms and to a carriage that was waiting for her.

Nothing could prepare anyone for this. Chase was only about to have his daughter. Nothing particularly eventful was happening was it? Nope. He may as well have gotten back into bed. Unfortunately though, what was happening was reality and it could have the potential to be rather grave. This hadn't been what Elijah had planned at all when he'd been annoying Kitty. He'd just wanted to spend the night with his girls then sneak off in the morning and deal with the jealous wrath of Mira when he got back to the Slytherin dorms. Somehow she always knew where he'd been. She hated his mask of cologne, cigarettes, alcohol and sex and she always managed to pick up on the scent of a woman -- as if she had the right to judge him for it.

Elijah didn't know whether to grin or cry. Right now he just wanted to burst into spontaneous bouts of tears and then scream and continue bawling. He couldn't handle this! How could anyone expect him to?! This was...this was...madness! Elijah would have passed out, had it not been for the waking women surrounding them. He did as he was told and dived under the bed, transforming into the great lumbering feline as he did so. From there he could only do but listen as the girls tended to Chase in a typically female fashion.

Elijah rolled his eyes. He should have just picked her up and taken her out. This was ridiculous.

When the door shut behind the group, Eli crawled out from under the bed. He meowed gently, upset about being left behind, and lumbered over to the door. He pushed it open and followed behind the girls, making sure to keep a safe distance away and down wind of them so they did't find him. To St. Mungo's then, he supposed.