Don't Lecture Me, Baby *Vincent*

She had forgotten it...she had left her purse at home as well as all of her inhalers. She needed to start listening to her husband more. He always told her to bring it but she never listened...she supposed it was because she had been told to bring her inhaler everywhere she went. She couldn't help but want to be a little defiant. She knew that she probably shouldn't be, having asthma was extremely dangerous. She needed to show caution, but she just wanted to be able to go one day without her husband calling her asking her if she had remembered her inhaler. Usually he went ahead of her and would hide one in her office drawer but it appeared that today he hadn't gotten to it. And she knew to expect that, he was out in the field. She was sure that if she called him he would rush over to her, although she wasn't sure how his superior would feel about it.

Wheezing a bit she tried to slow her breathing herself. Candice knew that she should have been far more careful. She had gone outside and the cold air had hit her like a ton of bricks. Usually when she came to work she would just use the Floo System, however the ash was starting to make it harder for her to breath as well, and apparation was a tad dangerous for an asthmatic also. Sighing, which give the certain circumstances was a real hard thing to do, she laid on her stomach in her office. She was expecting a client soon, but she knew that she would be in no place to help them if she could not breathe or even help herself.

It was with a heavy heart that she took out her cell phone and called Vincent. The phone rang and rang, and for a moment she feared that she would not get him...and it seemed to be the case when his voicemail answered telling her to leave a message and the rest of her information.

"V-V-Vincent," she rasped. "I...I forgot my inhaler...and...and I can't...breathe...."

She knew that when someone said they couldn't breath it was pretty drastic... but for her it was fairly routine. Candice had asthma since she was a young girl, and as she grew she supposed that her lungs just could not rid itself of the damn thing. However, Vincent took great care of her...he was her provider in life. They were soul mates, and he protected her like she was some great Queen of Siam.

"I...I know I should...should...have brought an...an...extra...but...but I forgot."

Her wheezing grew worse to the point that she could barely form a sentence.

'I love you..."

And with a small cough she hung up. Her breathing was becoming more raspy, but she didn't want to be admitted to St. Mungo's again. If her husband got her call soon enough she could just use her inhaler and that would be the end of it... until Vincent went into one of his usual lectures...then she knew that she would be stuck listening to him for a while.

Candice

[546 words]

Vincent felt his phone buzz but didn't pay any attention to it. He was in the middle of a case and couldn't bother with answering it. He reached into his pocket after a few more pulses and pressed a button on the side. He knew that it would go straight to his voicemail now, and if the person really wanted to talk to him, they would leave a message.

He watched his opponent from his hiding spot, wanting to catch him in the act. His partner for this case was off getting them coffee, but would be back at any second. That much was good. He needed something to wake him up. This guy was so boring, he was falling asleep! He either needed caffeine or adrenaline. And since the latter wasn't really an option at the moment, he'd take the former.

His partner finally showed up and handed him his much needed coffee. He thanked the other man and returned to his watch. If something didn't happen soon, he was going to go stir crazy.

"Come on, do something, already," he muttered. Fortunately for him, the replacements showed up the next minute, and he sighed with relief as his phone buzzed again. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open as he explained how little had gone on in the five hours they'd been sitting there.

He saw that the call had gone to voicemail. He pressed the button as he left the building to head back to the Ministry. He stopped short as he turned into an alleyway that he was using as a shortcut. Candice had forgotten her inhaler? He clenched his jaw. What had he told her?! He snapped his phone closed and Disapparated as soon as he looked around to see that he wasn't going to be noticed.

He reappeared in her office and found her, laying on her stomach, wheezing horribly. He hurried over to her and gathered her into his arms, digging in his pocket for the inhaler that he always carried with him, even when he wasn't with her.

"The one time that I can't call to make sure that you have your inhaler, and you have a major attack. Candy, you have to start remembering to bring it with you!"

He put the inhaler in her mouth and depressed it, hoping that she would react and inhale the medication. He didn't know how long she had been without being able to breathe, and it scared him.

Candice gasped and breathed deeply from the inhaler. It felt so good to be able to breathe again, however she also knew that because of her husband coming to her rescue she was going to have to deal with a mile long lecture.

"Thank you baby..." she breathed, heavily.

Blushing she sat up and tried to find a way to keep him from blowing up all over her. Of course that was inevitable...he would explode right then and there or he would wait until he got her home. In her mind neither were good. Biting her lower lip she looked down and at her shoes.

"So...how was work today? You didn't answer your phone...uhhh...were you busy?"

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. Now that she was able to breathe again, he was able to feel more than fear. And what he was feeling was frustration, and more than a little bit of anger and disappointment. He sighed as she looked down at her shoes.

"Candice, I have told you time and again that you have to have your inhaler with you. You couldn't breathe, baby. What if I hadn't answered my voicemail, either? You could be lying here, dying and I would know nothing about it!" He lifted her chin.

"I couldn't answer my phone because I was on a stake out. I had to turn the ringer off. I only answered it because my replacment showed up. If they hadn't, I would still be sitting there, and would not have been able to come to you, no matter what."

He sighed and turned to the wall behind him. He hated having to keep telling her this over and over, but she just didn't want to listen to reason. She did exactly as she had been doing since they had met, and that was leaving her inhaler at home, more than likely thinking that she wouldn't really need it. But her asthma was so severe, it was almost uncontrollable. She needed to understand that she had to have her inhaler at all times. More than one, actually. There was always the chance that she'd be away from her desk, or her purse, and he wished that he could get through to her!

"Candy," he said with another sigh. "Am I going to have to start putting them into everything that you are carrying with you each day?"

Candice pouted and turned away from him. Why did he always have to baby her? She knew that she needed to start carrying her inhaler more, but she couldn't help but forget it sometimes. Granted that more than once it was on purpose, but that was besides the point. She was very responsible...and she took good care of herself. She just hated having to carry that damn thing around. Today had been a fluke, she had forgotten her entire purse...not just her inhaler. Still it would not do good to mention that to Vincent or he would flip out more so.

"Please don't lecture me, Vincent." she grumbled. "I'm not a five year old."

Getting up from the couch she went over to her desk and started acting like she had something important to do. She didn't want to talk about her inhaler anymore...nor did she want to talk to him. But her husband rarely left...not unless he had to work. And she knew that if he stayed for too much longer they would just end up in a fight...but that was nothing new for them and they always survived them. However that still did not change the fact that they were any less annoying.

"And it wasn't that big of a deal." she grumbled. "If it got that bad I was just going to go and get a Healer...so you don't have to worry so much about it."

Vincent turned back to face her. It wasn't that big of a deal?! She was the one that had called him, and he'd found her lying on her stomach, barely able to breathe. How did she expect him to believe that she would have been able to get up and go to a healer if it 'got that bad'.

"From the way it sounded on the phone, it was that bad. Candice, I shouldn't have to remind you that you need your inhaler with you. I also shouldn't have to give you a lecture each time this happens. As you have pointed out, you are not five. You know that you need the inhaler. And even if you do forget to take it with you in the morning, you should have one in your desk at all times." He went to her desk and opened the drawer that he usually put the inhaler in. As he'd thought, there wasn't one there. He looked up at her.

"And what happened to the one that was in here yesterday? I know that I put it here, since I brought it while you were off with a patient. It was right around lunch time, and it was brand new, so there should be no reason that it wouldn't be here."

Vincent crossed his arms.

"How many times did you have to use it?"

Candice blushed, she couldn't tell him that in a fit of rage she had flushed the inhaler down one of the hospital toilets. They had gotten into a fight over the phone and because she had been so angry she ripped it out of her desk and just did what had come to mind with it. Of course she could never tell Vincent that, so she made sure to carry her purse with her. Today had just been one of those days when she had left and not really thought about it not being there.

"It..." she bit her lower lip. "It was faulty..."

Ugh...another lie...she always did this. Not about everything else, just when it came to her inhaler or asthma medication. She didn't like taking it or thinking about it. So she would try and fib her way out of it. She knew that it was wrong, and that when she did it she could see Vince's trust level for her drop...but she just hated getting in trouble. She hated it...and it seemed that the more it happened the longer and longer Vincent's lectures got. Merlin she pitied her children.

"I think they gave me the wrong prescription." she swallowed. "So...I got rid of it. No big deal, right?"

Vincent's eyes narrowed. The wrong prescription? Now that was highly unlikely, since he'd gone to get it filled himself and she'd not had a problem with the other two that had been part of that order.

"Somehow I don't believe that. You didn't have a problem with the other two inhalers that I got with it. How is it that that particular inhaler is wrong?" He had even checked to make sure that it was correct. He always checked where her health was concerned. He always had, since her asthma was so difficult to control. He loved Candice, and would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

"I don't want to have to lecture you about anything, but I think that you did your usual and flushed it. Tell me the truth, and then tell me why you refuse to admit that you have to work harder to control this!"

He sat on the edge of her desk, his arms crossed. He looked at her with concern in his blue eyes. He wanted to help her control her asthma, but couldn't do it without her willing to do it for herself.

Candice pouted, there was something about Vincent that just brought the child out in her. She had always been such a good little girl when she was younger, that when she got older she supposed the brat in her finally came out. However she knew that Vincent loved her for her childlike wonder. He always said that it separated her from the usual doctor. That was why most of her clients were children or students. She got the occasional adult, but that was rare, and she was only required once a month to do psyche evaluations on the dangerous patients. Some of the doctors preferred that line of work, whereas she preferred to stay as far away from that kind of suffering as possible...Candice had a heart for children, and it broke when she saw that adults were suffering on beds.

"It wasn't a good inhaler," she grumbled, moodily. "Can't we just let this go? We both know how it is going to end. You are going to scold me like I am a child, and I am going to just ignore you and end up right back where we started again."

She felt her cheeks flush, she also came off as extremely honest. She knew Vincent's mind inside and out. She had been married to him for the past six years and knew how his brain worked. He was a caregiver, he loved to baby things and take care of his loved ones. It was just something that his mind was prone too, the reason being that his parents were lousy caregivers and now he is compensating for the lack of love he had back then. Of course Candice never told him his diagnosis, her husband was also dead set on being self sufficient, he did not like help of any kind.

"Your mum called you," she said gently. "You had been working late last night and she called the house...I...regrettably answered...and they invited us to supper this weekend at the Laundau in Muggle London...and I said we would go."

She knew that this was going to spark a fight, but they had not gone out to eat in months...and if his parents were offering to pay, she was not going to deny them...even though his mother was a right bitch and detested her with all of her bloody being.

Vincent sighed. She was more than likely right about the argument. He would have just kept going with his side, telling her that she needed to take the inhaler, and she would tell him that she was treating her like a child, then they would have both just become even more upset and possibly spent the evening not speaking to each other.

Then he heard her say that his mother had called the house. That was something that he didn't care for. He tended to keep his distance from his parents because of their feelings on status in the world. They had never understood his desire to be an Auror, which in their eyes was no better than a Muggle police officer. He had just shook his head when they had told him that, seeing as they were Muggles themselves and didn't know exactly how different an Auror was.

"We have to have dinner with my parents? Baby, I really don't want to go. I was hoping that you and I would have dinner out this weekend, just the two of us. I know that we haven't been out to eat in a while and I wanted to surprise you. I asked for the whole weekend off and I wanted to spend it with you."

He moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Do we really have to go? I don't want to hear about how I'm not making enough money to support you the way that I was raised, or how dangerous my career is. And especially about how we still don't have children, even though we've been married for six years." He closed his eyes sadly at that last part.

Candice sighed, she knew that Vincent would try any way he could to get out of this dinner, and although she knew what his parents were like she wanted them to do this. She wanted Vincent to be able to wake up in the morning and at least say that he was the better person. Skimping out on dinner was no better than what they had done at their wedding. Turning around to face him she brought her hands to the hem of his shirt and moved her nails up to his back. She loved feeling his warm skin against her palms. She knew that he loved his parents, even if he wanted to deny it...but this was something they needed to do...they needed to be the better couple and go out to dinner with his parents.

"Baby," she cooed. "We are going to dinner with them...and if they are going to be that way than that is fine. And...we could always try for another baby..."

It broke her heart that they kept trying...they were always trying to have a baby and yet she was still not pregnant. She had been tested and all the Healers said that both of them were fertile. So it was just a matter of waiting and being patient. Looking up at him she gently kissed his pout. She loved him so much, and words could never describe the thoughts that ran through her mind whens he looked at him. Reaching up gently she stroked his cheek with her thumb and smiled. She loved him so much, even when he was trying to baby her...even when they fought. Candice and him had a love stronger than all of that.

"We can spend another weekend together alone," she said gently. "I promise... but this weekend we are going to have dinner with your folks, and we are going to be civil. If they want to be assholes let them, all that matters is that you and I tried."

Vincent sighed inwardly. He was going to have to spend an evening listening to his mother, whether he wanted to or not. He would do it to make Candy happy, but he wasn't going to enjoy it, that was for sure. He squirmed delightfully against her nails on his back. He loved it when she did that to him. She knew this of course, and was probably using it to get him to do as she wished. It wasn't necessary, really. If she wanted to have dinner with his parents, he would do it. But he didn't want to think about that right now. Now he wanted his mind on those hands on his back.

"You keep it up with your nails, and we're going to be trying for a baby right here," he whispered into her hair. "And I'll go to dinner. You know I will. But my mother had better keep her comments to herself. I don't need to be reminded of how dangerous my motorcycle is. She just can't admit that I'm an adult and I don't have the same views about things that they do."

He tightened his hold on his wife and leaned down to kiss her. He so loved this woman. She had been the only woman that he'd looked at since he'd left Hogwarts, and he knew that she would always be the only one in his heart.

"I'm going to have to get her to understand that. End of story, and end of discussion with her about it. What I do is more important than whether I have a Porsche or a Gremlin. What I do is protect the Wizarding world, and in that effect, the Muggle as well." He touched his forehead to Candy's.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to go on like this. You already know how important being an Auror is to me. Just like I know how important your career is to you." He kissed her again softly.

Candice held onto Vincent and rested her head against his chest. She just loved hearing the sound of his heartbeat. Sighing she took his hand into her own and held it tight. She just wanted to take him right then and there and try for their baby! She didn't see any harm in it, surely them trying for a baby in her office wasn't a crime. And she had a couple of hours before her next client came in. Gently as she could she pulled him to the couch and pushed him to lay down. He was so sexy.

"Baby?" she whispered. "I have some spare time...and it seems like you are my three o-clock appointment...why don't we try and go for a baby...please?"

She knew that he would not refuse her if it had something to do with baby making. Of course Candice knew that he had to like the aspect of getting laid, but that was not the point. They wanted to have a baby, both of them did...so that meant that they would have sex as many times as possible to make it happen.

Vincent looked down at the top of his wife's head. She wanted him to have sex with her right now? He didn't know what to say to that. He would love to be with her right now, but it was so risky, especially since someone could walk in at any time. But it was so hard to resist her! He loved her so much and he was of course, male, so if she was going to offer to have sex in her office and the middle of the day, how could he say no?

"Just a moment, Love," he said and crossed to her office door, checking twice to make sure that it was locked and returned to the beautiful woman he'd married. He pulled her back into his arms and undid the zipper of her dress. Slipping it from her shoulders, he moved back to let it pool at her feet. His clothing followed suit a moment later, and he pulled her back into his arms.


[[[[CENSORED]]]]


Vincent looked around at the mess they had made of Candy's office. Everything that had been on her desk was now on the floor. He'd knocked it all off the surface to make room for them, and now he was lying sprawled on top, with Candy next to him. He got up and found his clothing, dressing quickly in case someone came to her office.

"Candy, I don't think I need to tell you exactly how much I loved what we just did, but now we need to clean up the aftermath before your next appointment shows up and we have to explain this." He gestured to the mess around his bare feet with a chuckle.

Candice smiled and nodded, today could only be made better if she took a test later on in the week that told her she was pregnant. God she just wanted a baby so bad, and she knew that Vincent did too. They had names picked out and everything, and even prayed for a baby girl continuously. Vincent wanted her to be his little princess, personally Candice didn't care if it was a boy or a girl...just so long as she had a baby. Looking up at Vincent she wrapped her arms around him once more and rested her head on his chest. She loved how tall he was, and how his arms wrapped protectively around her. They needed a child, they had tried so many times and it had just always ended in such disappointment. It broke her heart more and more to take that test and just to see that nothing was inside her tummy.

"This will be the time..." she whispered. "It just has to be."

Vincent had suggested adoption, but Candice wanted her own baby. She could never adopt a baby and consider it truly hers. She knew that sounded shallow and cold, but it was just something her mind was set too. If she could not have her own child then she would just have to live a childish life. But right now, she just felt so light...so weightless, that just had to mean something, right? She knew in her heart that this would be the time when she would get pregnant...and then it would just be a nine month wait until her little one came.

Taking out her wand she flicked it and watched as all of her office restored itself. Vincent and her did often cause a mess when they got into it, thank God for magic.

"Are you going to be working late at the Ministry?" she pouted, looking up at him. "All these late nights...I miss having you in bed with me."

Vincent heard her whisper, and hoped that she was right. They wanted a baby so badly. He could practically feel the desire for a child in their house. It killed him a little each time that she had said that same line, and each time she'd been disappointed. It was such a small request. A baby for them to raise, love, teach and learn from. He just wished that she'd been more open to his suggestion of adoption. She could have been a mother much sooner. But she'd explained to him her reasons.

When she asked him when he'd be done at work, Vincent had to smile. Really, the only thing he'd needed to do at the Ministry was work on a few files. Those could wait until morning.

"I'm finished for the day, Sexy Candy," he said, using his favorite pet name for her.

"You won't have to be alone in bed tonight."

Candice smiled and snuggled into his chest. She hated sleeping alone, her Vincent was her other pillow. There were nights where she would toss and turn until he found his way into the bed next to her. She could not sleep without him, at least not properly. Closing her eyes she turned her head to the side and listened to his heartbeat once more. She loved that sound, and she knew that if she could she would fall asleep right then and there, just listening to the beautiful rhythm of his heart.

"I love you baby." she said gently. "I know that this will be the time...I just know it."

(OOC: I think we should end it there, so if you are on a computer today could you start the dinner thread?)