:-: Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I updated but now I am out of school so hopefully I will be updating a lot more. Thank you to all of you who have stuck with me! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh and there's a reference to an animal in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them if you want to read more about said animal:-:

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It had only been two days since she and Snape had decided to ignore Dumbledore's request and have the baby. It had also only been two days since she and Snape had decided to start dating… officially. And she had to admit that ever since that decision had been made, things had been a little awkward around the house. It was as if they were both expecting certain things to happen or for things to go a certain way and neither really knew what those expectations were.

Hermione was sitting at the kitchen table finishing her breakfast and reading the Daily Prophet when Snape walked into the kitchen and got himself a cup of coffee. She watched him put the coffee pot back and come sit at the table with her.

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," Hermione replied, smiling at him. He smiled back at her and reached for part of the newspaper. Hermione went back to reading an article about the sudden population growth of Murtlaps, which had caused an increase in foot amputations in recent weeks. After a moment she lost her concentration as Snape cleared his throat loudly.

Hermione looked up from the paper to see him looking her in the eyes. "Um…" he said. He began to fidget with his coffee cup and stare into it.

"Yes?" she replied, confused.

"Well, I was just wondering if maybe…" he said, trying to put what he wanted to say into words.

"Severus?" she said, trying to get him to look at her again.

"Yeah?" he said doing just that.

"What is it?" she said putting the paper down.

"I was just thinking that maybe we should go out to dinner tonight," he replied.

"Oh… sure. Where should we go?" she asked a little off guard. She didn't know why she was though. They were dating, thus he asking her on a date shouldn't have been awkward, but it was a little. It was just a very weird idea to accept.

"I'll make some reservations. Seven-thirty sound all right?"

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"Ok. I'll meet you back here at seven-fifteen then?" he asked as he got up and put his empty cup in the sink.

"Sure," she said picking up the paper again.

"Ok, well, I'm off to work."

"Ok. I'll be off in a few minutes. I'll see you there."

"Ok," Snape said as he made to leave the room. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Hermione finishing the paper. He walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. She looked up at him. "Bye," he said before leaving the room.

"Bye," she called after him. She couldn't help but smile. Their situation was awkward at times but that would change. As least she hoped it would.

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Hermione and Snape didn't see each other at all during the day. She had gone to see if he wanted to go to lunch, only to be shooed away by his secretary saying something about a meeting. Snape had gone to see Hermione in the afternoon to find that she was off running an errand for the department. Hermione had then gone to see if he wanted to go home together at six but he was busy in his office with end of the day paper work. Both were surprised to notice that they missed each other.

After leaving Snape to his paper work, Hermione apparated home and went to her bedroom to get ready for dinner. She didn't know where they would be going but she expected that it would be nice, so she decided to wear her favorite black dress. It was a strapless dress that was cut just below her knees and the skirt flailed out. There was white lace that wrapped around the waist. She noticed that as she slipped it on that it was a little tight around her stomach. She realized that she was now in her third month of pregnancy.

She walked over to the full length mirror that hung on her bathroom door and turned to the side so that she was looking at her profile. She noticed a slight bulge to her belly. She ran her hands over it and smiled. She still couldn't believe that she was going to have a baby. It was even harder to believe that it was with Severus Snape but the idea seemed to be growing on her.

She went to the bathroom and washed her face so that she could redo her makeup. She applied some eye liner to make her eyes more pronounced and then put on some mascara. She put on a little bit of blush and some light pink lip gloss. She looked in the mirror to check her reflection. Everything seemed okay except for her hair.

Hermione heard the front door open and close. Snape was home. She looked at the clock on her bedside table and saw that it was six-fifty. She heard his bedroom door close and then looked back in the mirror. What to do with the hair?

She pulled it half up, but quickly decided that she didn't like it. She put it back down, but that looked too frizzy. She tried it in a pony tail, but thought it looked too informal for the dress. Finally she put it up in a messy bun and pulled some bangs down so that they dangled at the side of her face. She liked that.

She went to her closet and pulled out a pair of black, kitten-heeled shoes. She put them on and went to look at the whole ensemble in front of the full length mirror again. Deciding that she liked it, she turned off the lights and went to wait in the living room for Snape.

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Snape had come home from work and walked into his bedroom. He changed his robes quickly to yet another pair that was black. He went to the bathroom and put on some cologne and combed his hair. After he had done this it was only seven 'o'clock, so he sat down on the bed. After a moment he took out his wand and conjured up some pink lilies. He put his wand away just as he heard Hermione open and close her bedroom door.

He rose from the bed and turned off his lights before walking into the living room, where Hermione was sitting on the couch.

She heard his door open and stood up. "Hi!" she said, before he even closed the door shut.

"Hi," he said. "Wow, you look stunning," he added as he looked at her from head to foot.

"Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself," she said.

"Here, these are for you," he said, handing her the flowers.

"Oh, thank you! Lilies are my favorite flowers," she said taking them and smelling them. "Where are we going for dinner?"

"It's a surprise."

"Okay, well let me put these in a vase and then we can leave."

Hermione walked into the kitchen for moment and when she came back she took Snape's arm. He was a little startled by this, but still managed to say, "Shall we?"

"Yes," she replied, smiling at him.

"We'll have to apparate. Hold on," he said, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close to his body. She felt a chill run down her spine as he did so, a good chill.

A moment later they were on a deserted beach. The moon shone overhead and millions of stars scattered the sky. The soft sound of waves crashing against the shore filled their ears. Hermione looked around and saw a picnic laid out on the sand. Candles lit the scene.

"I thought you said you were making reservations?" Hermione asked shocked but excited.

"I'm not good at the whole romantic thing, but I thought this might be better."

"I think you're a lot better at the 'romantic thing' that you think you are," she said before kissing him gently on the lips. He leaned back from her surprised. He took her hand and led her to the blanket. They sat down and Snape poured two glasses of grape juice.

"Well, well, well, you do know a little about being pregnant," she laughed.

"I've been reading up."

"Have you?"

"Yes, there's this Muggle book called "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and it just-."

He was cut off by Hermione laughing.

"What?!" he asked, confused.

"Nothing. I think that's adorable. Can I borrow it when you're done?" she said, still laughing.

"You can borrow it now. So… you think I'm adorable?" he said, smirking.

"I said you reading the book was adorable, but you do have your moments. Like this morning when you kissed me goodbye." She took a sip of juice. "So, what are we eating?"

Snape pulled some fruit, crackers and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of a basket.

"Wow, did you make these yourself?" she said grabbing one of the sandwiches.

"As a matter of fact I did. I was going to make something really good but… I can't cook," he said, grabbing the other sandwich.

"Oh, well, I will have to teach you. I am a phenomenal cook!"

"I will be the judge of that!" he said, smiling at her.

"Hey! Jerk!" she said, sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," Snape replied, as he leaned over and pulled a piece of hair out of her face and behind her ear. Hermione felt that chill run down her spine again.

"You know, I have never felt as much passion with anyone as I did with you that day," she said, avoiding his eyes and watching the waves crash against the shore.

"I would have to say the same," he said, moving closer to her.

"Maybe hatred is a strong aphrodisiac."

"Maybe. You don't hate me now do you?"

"Just a little," she said, smirking at him. He moved closed to her still.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I don't really like you either," he said.

"I would beg to differ," she said placing her hands on his chest and kissing him on the lips. He pulled her to him and made the kiss deeper. She moved so that she was kneeling between his legs and he held her to his chest. She pulled away from him. "See?"

He laughed. "Fine!"

She turned around and sat between his legs and leaned against him. He wrapped his arms around her and they watched the waves. This didn't feel weird, it felt right in a way, she thought.

Snape leaned his head on her shoulder and smelled her hair. It smelled sweet and of lilacs. He rested his hands on her belly and she placed her hands over his.

"I think our situation will work out fine," he said.

"Yeah, if we can get along," she added.

"I think we're getting along great," he said as he kissed her neck.

She turned to face him and he looked a little surprised. "Yeah, there's passion, which is good, but that doesn't mean that we'll get along. We need to make sure that we can live together. We need to talk about how we're going to raise this child. We need to make sure we have the same views on things. Just because there's heat doesn't mean we're meant to be together."

Snape took her face in his hands. "You are thinking too far into this right now. We're testing this out. All of those things, we will figure out in time. Things are fine right now." He kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Right, we'll take it one day at a time. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I've just been a little stressed," she said leaning back into him.

"Understandable, but that's not good for the baby," Snape said.

Hermione laughed again. "You actually read that book!? I am impressed."

"What can I say? I care."

There was something in the way that Snape said that made Hermione believe it. He did really care about her and this baby. That made her feel really comfortable. She was beginning to think that this could and would really work.

They stayed there for an hour or so, just sitting in each others arms. Hermione finally began to fall asleep in his arms. Snape gathered everything together and pulled her to her feet. He pulled her close to his body once again and apparated back to their house.

"Well, thank you for a lovely evening," Hermione said.

"Of course," Snape said, kissing her softly.

"Well, I am off to bed," she said making to leave, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back and kissed her again.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said before kissing her again. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and made the kiss deeper. He slowly led her to his bedroom, as he ran his hands up and down her body. She began to unbutton his robes and he slowly unzipped her dress. He gently laid her on the bed and began to explore her neck. She moaned softly.

"Severus?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"We really shouldn't. This is too fast."

He stopped and looked her in the eyes. "Because we haven't already done this?" he said, putting a piece of hair behind her ear again.

"That was a momentary lapse of judgment. We're dating now and if th-."

"Exactly, we're dating now, what's wrong with this?"

She smiled at him. "If you would let me finish, we're dating now and if this is going to work, we need to take it slow."

He dropped his head in defeat. He knew she was right. He got off the bed and pulled her with him. He pecked her on the cheek.

"Goodnight," she said. "Thank you again."

"Goodnight," he replied.

She left his room and walked down the hallway to her own. She heard his door close and she closed her behind her. She leaned against the door wishing that she could be back down the hall.

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So… I know it's kind of short but I hope you all liked it. Thanks for sticking with it and please KEEP REVIEWING!!!

Thanks to septentrion, Mennie, pplhater2493, DD2, Erytha, Anarane Anwamane, Jessica, Perfect Day, Sugar Quill High, ILoveAnime89, BECKY, slythchickASD, Danica Cobriana, Rhiannon Renegade, xOxXo SqUEAkk, and Megan Consoer! You're all awesome!