✧A BLOOD FEVER✧

◊━━━━━✥━━━━━◊

***

It had not been the best thing to say, as Sirius had already appeared twice over the course of the full week in his father's return. Or thought of return, but there was no bargaining with that she-devil that Rhea had managed to push past.

The manor was always open to the brothers, though Rhea was worried as to why Regulus hadn't managed to make his way over, though he doubted that he wanted to get in trouble as his brother surely would.

Alphard didn't mind, considering he only saw his nephews for the better of a few times within the year. He only found it cumbersome when he was attempting to have a romantic evening with his beautiful wife.

Just after breakfast, Rhea was informed that Orion would be coming over for an important meeting to get a few dozen or so things. She had asked if they needed any help, which Orion had interrupted her kind offer with a laugh.

While Alphard thought it was a good idea, he pushed aside her worries and said that they would ease her into less complicated things. The deadlines they were under isn't the best to start teaching with, she understood and decided to get a few things prepared for the library.

She ordered a few dozen encyclopedias, ranging from creatures to plants—Manuals to any type of script that would be beautifully presented. In addition, she was going to go with Andy and Dora one day soon to purchase a plethora of muggle literature, so she could have a growing stockpile.

Though she wondered if that should be more hidden and less out in the open.

The main centerpieces would be sculptures that she had already spoken to a curator with, the theme was strictly Greek mythology. And Rhea couldn't possibly wait any longer to see this masterpiece, she had been scurrying around for so long that she nearly screamed in seeing an elf sneaking up on her.

"Becker! I'm so sorry love, what is it?"

"Mistress ask Becker to tell her when to take potion, Becker leaves pot of tea in Mistress bedroom." She sighed in relief that she had told the elf to remind her, otherwise she would've had to inform Alphard of her foolishness.

Just as she was told, the kettle was stationed and she had made herself a fresh cup with a hint of lemon to settle herself. Usually, she would allow herself a bit of a calming moment to go through something that's a bit painful.

Before taking the potion, she needed to prick her finger to ensure that she wasn't taking too much of said potion or would need to wait another day to take it.

Most of the time, that wasn't the case, but it wasn't a grand mixture to take so close to a menstrual cycle.

Allowing her blood to settle into the potion to tell her what she needed to do, she made a bit of busy work and looked into her closet. Making a mental list of all the things she would need from Sarah, or even smiling to see the familiar pieces from nights before.

With the few minutes up, she went to go and strip in preparation to take her bath, yet when taking hold of the actual contraception potion, she turned to see the worst possible color on the damn bottle possible.

She dropped the tonic and scrambled to take hold of the one that's analyzed her blood.

"Shite—Shiteshiteshite." She ushered, her hands running chaotically into her hair as she looked around for an answer, only to nearly step onto the spilled tonic.

It never crossed her mind that something might be wrong, sure she's felt a few unwarranted cramps here and there, but she thought it was simply because she drank a bit too much here and there.

They were out after all, what was the harm?

Reading the instructions, it was prudent to go and see a specialist right away, and that meant going to a healer. It would be a record, having to go see a healer so soon after the last visit. But thankfully it was an entirely different institution, one Rhea herself wasn't familiar with but had inquired about for future visits.

One involving children, hopefully.

After a few minutes of panic, a calming moment of finishing her tea and obsessing over such an easy issued parcel. She sent it off, hoping to get a response sooner rather than later.

By now she would be already out of the bath and swirling with ideas about the library, yet she was mistaken for such a small error.

Considering the warning on the bottle's instructions, the returning owl was prompt and suggested that the latest Rhea should come in was the following morning. But nothing in her could possibly wait until then to figure out what was wrong, and just as she was about to knock on Alphard's door—She realized that he was in an important meeting with Orion!

She cursed, of course, she would have to ruin his perfectly settled work schedule for this. But would it be all the wiser to go without telling him?

No, she should at least tell him.

Straightening her neck and taking a breath of confidence, she knocked at the door before taking an offering peeking into the room. Alphard of course had peeked his head up for a moment, smiling down to his work with an adorable grin—That was at least a welcoming sign.

"Love, is it lunchtime already?" With that, she was left wordless as she came forward, and one thing she loved about Orion is that he always knew when to give the couple some privacy.

Especially considering how pale Rhea's face is with worry.

"I'll be stretching my legs off somewhere else." She had given him a blessing smile for being an angel. But once he had left, Alphard had pulled his wife down into his embrace and kissed her cheek in a proper greeting.

"I was nearly about to pull my hair out." He grumpled, rubbing his eyes—It's a true wonder how he hasn't stressed himself completely to white hair.

"I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to say it—I need to go to my healer." That alerted him and he stared down at her, his face no longer as playful as it once was.

"What is it? Are you in pain?"

"No, I was going to take my tonic but my blood tested very badly, the facility has already given me an appointment and they've recommended that I come sooner rather than later." With that being said, Alphard lifted his wife up to her feet and read through the parcel just over her shoulder.

"Everything will be alright, let me just go and tell Orion we'll be stepping out. No worries, we'll sort this out." She didn't want to express the part where she could go by herself, but the way his face had contorted all of three times since she stepped foot in his study was enough to keep her silent.

With a few vague words given, Alphard promised Orion to return when he could. But seeing as how stressed the couple is, Orion waved it off and told them to get it all sorted.

But Rhea couldn't help but feel the slight pinch in her heart, what did 'getting it sorted' actually mean?

What if she had gotten pregnant while even on the tonic?
What did that mean for her or the babe?
Better question, what would Alphard think?

Her husband hadn't left her side after his departure with Orion, he had remained ready—Even sitting beside her as she scribbled down details onto the clipboard of any and all diets, activities she's gone through, and so forth.

She had asked a simple question or two in regards to how much she should write down that she drinks, and Alphard had given her an honest answer—Even offering to finish it for her if she didn't want to deal with it, but she persevered. Earning herself another kiss.

"Rhea?" With her name being called up ahead, she had taken her cloak in her hand and both husband and wife had followed after the healer. She looked very young in Rhea's eyes, which she could certainly commit to. It made her feel at ease not to have some elder shaming her for her sex life.

"My name is Makenzie, I'll be covering for our Head Healer as she's with another patient...I'm the one who responded to your parcel." And thus, the situation had been explained. It didn't happen often, but it was considered a good thing that Rhea was so up to date with her doses and took it as seriously as she could.

She was then asked to strip so that the head healer could take a better reading on her body. In sitting in the provided robe, she had looked off towards Alphard—Still eyeing the small space in her arm where Makenzie had taken blood from.

"Alfie—"

"I should've taken care of all this, love. This is too stressful for you to handle."

"It's a normal fluke, you heard her." He remained silent, and Rhea turned to him once again. "Are you angry with me?"

"With you? Course not, I could never be. As you said, it's a normal fluke. Please don't think that way, it hurts enough to know that you're in pain." She shook her head, she wasn't in pain yet. Apparently, the procedure wasn't all that desired, though she was hopeful that wasn't the case.

"What if I am pregnant, what will we do?" She asked, fearful of looking at him. Tears started to build up in her eyes, and he gave her the softest smile he could muster without showcasing that he was afraid. "Then we'll take the blessing, everything happens for a reason, yes? This lil peanut couldn't wait to be with us."
"Did you just call our possible child a peanut?" She said with a bit of light laughter coming in between the two of them.

"From my recollection, Sirius and Regulus were about yea big when they were first born. But you know how my memories fail me." She scoffs, claiming that his memory is better than her own.

As silence lingered the room, and Rhea's eyes watched the door she sniffled. "Alfie, can I hold your hand?" A mere heartbeat later he had her's wrapped in either of his with a settled kiss to calm her.

"Don't you worry about anything, this facility is the best there is."

"That's not what I'm worried about, there are plenty of complications that come with a failed potion, Alife. You know that." Rhea had a habit of assuming the worse, so Alphard was utterly relieved to see the healer enter the room with a professional gaze hovering over the two.

"This is a first, no father's allowed I'm afraid, darling." The woman said, brushing off her initial reaction to go and wash her hands. "Er...This is my husband." That caught the woman by surprise and she looked over the charts.

"Mr.Black, I will have to ask you to step outside for a moment while I ask Rhea a few questions." Fear captivated Rhea's heart as she watched him go without trying to remain here for her, and instead, the head healer had introduced herself properly.

"Mrs.Black, I am going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them to the best of your ability." She nodded, and at first, the few had started to relay similar to the one's from earlier.

Until the faithful question of— Does your significant other hurt or cause you any harm?

"N-no, of course not!" The barbaric question had caught her off guard, but then as it settled in she realized that not everyone could respond in that way. "Mrs.Black?"

"I...My previous fiancé, he used to." She admitted, disregarding the unheard follow-up question. And that had the healer twinkle with remorse, though evidently, it had instigated another array of reminiscing the worst time in her life.

"Is it alright to call in your husband?" She nodded, her eyes still tearful from before. Thankfully he was right outside awaiting his re-entry, however, in seeing Rhea's state he hurried over towards her.

"The blood testing will be ready in just a few moments..." The healer admitted before stepping out, only to leave Rhea crying into her husband's shoulder.

The fact that all that Dolohov has done still left a fragment of doubt in either of them, and it hurt even worse when she had to explain what the healer had just a moment before.

"She needs to run more tests in a few weeks...I didn't think—" Alphard had silenced her from thereon.

"That isn't something you should have to consider, when we return home I am going to owl Maverick to see what he thinks. Otherwise, we'll deal with this as it comes, alright?" She conformed into his hold, and when the healer returned with good news, it still hadn't uplifted the couple.

While Rhea wasn't pregnant, it still left her to need an injection in her stomach. It was beyond painful and lingered, even after she had been redressed and helped to her feet.

The demand for bed rest had caused Alphard to turn into her own personal nurse, it was rather adorable to see how he commanded the elves this way and that as they walked out of the fireplace in each other's arms.

"Ah, is everything alright now that—" Orion was silenced, the way that Rhea looked after the healers was godawful. The injection wasn't harmful, it would solve most of the issues that the potion warned them of. But that wasn't without some following issues, the worst the healer said was that she might fall ill for a bit.

Even with the recommended rest and water intake, but otherwise, by the weekend she should be right as rain.

After being taken upstairs, undressed into some nightwear, Alphard had returned and explained what happened to Orion—With Rhea's permission of course.

Everyone hour or so he would take the break and go and check on his wife, only to find that she's shivering cold then sweating hot.

Instead of taking dinner downstairs, he humored her by hand spoon-feeding her a plethora of soup. And he was thankful that her appetite hadn't denigrated as the healer warned him it might.

By the second day, the actual pain had settled in, it was excruciating and Rhea was convinced that this is what childbirth would potentially feel like.

Thankfully Orion had kept him busy, and Andy had come after her uncle had left. Work was overwhelming, but Alphard was close to forfeiting the decisions to Orion.

Even if he trusted his brother, Rhea was sure that it would pass eventually. Just that eventually felt like a long time away.

Today she had lost count of how many times Alphard had traveled back up to their room to spend a bit of time with her, she thought it was adorable—But seeing him so shaken up was causing her to start to feel guilty.

So she had given him the small task of asking for one of his dress shirts, hopefully making him feel a bit better in aiding her for what she needed.

Yet the knock on the door had caught either of their attention as Alphard popped out of the closet with a frown. "Orion, this is highly inappropriate for you to be up here and—"

"It was either me or my sons, and that would elect Walburga to come in as well. And I doubt Rhea wants that, so here. Before I'm questioned anymore about my image of being a caring arse." He had thrusted the bundle of flowers into Alphard's arms and Rhea had laughed into her wrist.

"That's very sweet Orion, but there's no need to worry. I'm feeling much better." She offered, but the bloke nearly choked to see how colorless the woman was.

"I uh...My sons also made cards. Better watch out, Alphard, I believe my son might snatch her from you." The teasing was much easier to settle the tension, and as Rhea had read the kind words of her nephews—It had made her feel much better in terms of getting through this bit of trouble.

"Oh, that's lovely..." She said, holding up a drawn snitch cutout. And that caused Orion to laugh. "So that is what Regulus was doing all day..." He said with a growing grin, but Alphard had pushed his brother out, saying it was disrupting Rhea's peace.

◇──◇────◇────◇──◇

Date Posted: 01/23/2022

Time: 1:07

Words: 2788