Almost There

"James, I feel worse than a balloon in a balloon."

Her husband looked up at her from the kitchen, where he was preparing dinner and grinned with amusement.

"Darling, it's almost time for you to have the baby anyway. Just stay a little patient, love, and you'll stop feeling like balloons pretty soon." He laughed at himself, oblivious to the angry scowls she was throwing him and continued adding the finishing touches to his salad. Lily's pregnancy had turned her vegetarian and he was surprised to find himself actually liking the Greek salad and spinach-mushroom pie he had prepared for them that night.

"James!" Lily shrieked all of a sudden, and the plate he had been cleaning off slipped from his hand and met the floor with deafening volume. He quickly jumped out of the way as it split into smithereens and rushed to his wife's side.

Lily was sitting upright on the sofa, clutching her stomach tight s little beads of sweat traced silvery lines of fatigue down the side of her pale face. It didn't take James too long to put the pieces together.

"Accio tumbler!" He called out and caught the glass that came flying to him. "Aguamenti!"

He quickly fed his breathless wife the water as he rubbed her back in even circles.

"We need to get to Mungo's right now," Lily gasped between sips. James nodded, trying desperately to hide his panic beneath layers of responsibility.

"We can't floo there and we most certainly can't apparate," James said quickly, counting the options off on his fingers. It was common knowledge that an expectant mother couldn't apparate – she was under the huge risk of splinching herself and losing her baby. Travelling by the floo network was comparatively safer but still an absolute no for mothers so close to having their babies.

"There's no way we could get a taxicab at this hour," Lily moaned. "I need to get the the bloody hospital right away!" she yelled as her body rocked with mighty contractions.

"Our baby is just as impatient as you are," James said, kissing his wife on the nose as a plan formed in his mind.

"Lily, what do you think about flying to Mungo's?"

Her face blanched and her eyes nearly fell out of her skull at his proposition.

"What if I fall the second I have another contraction?" Her uterus squeezed and tugged in agreement, and Lily winced.

"I'll place safely enchantments on you, love; there's no way you'll be able to move from the broom once you're on it. Our home is luckily not too far from the hospital, and you know how fast I can fly." His eyes gleamed with a sort of mad delight and Lily looked at him, aghast.

But then the baby shifted in her again, urging his mommy to have him soon and Lily nearly sobbed.

"Okay," she cried with exhaustion. "You better get me there in one piece!"

Entered in:

The Het-Tastic Drabble-Athon Competition, prompt #36 - patient