I know that you can't hear me, but baby I need you to save me tonight

“It’s pointless to be polite?” he returned, leaning in and giving her an incredulous look. “Then what do you expect-“

Kelly barged in out of the kitchen, shocking him into silence as she stormed across the room and back again. Keiran closed his mouth once the door had slammed behind her, sinking back into his chair so he no longer looked the part of an aggressive dinner companion. It hit him at the most bizarre moments just how like Millie his daughter could be. How she looked. Her temper, sometimes. The only difference was that Kelly seemed to always be excited to see him. The only problem was that Keiran loved them both, when he could only be assured of one person’s affection towards him out of the pair.

Shaking his head, Keiran brushed away her apology, nearly coughing as she said those two words. He made a show of clearing his throat twice before Millie spoke again. He blinked once, but stood abruptly, not bothering with words. Rounding the table, his hand was extended, palm up, for her to slip her own into. Keiran led her between a couple tables to an open bit of floor. The twins were lucky he’d suddenly forgotten their being there; he would’ve drawn her across the other side so the couldn’t keep an eye on things.

Lifting a hand, he led her into a gentle turn before wrapping his arm too far around her middle. There was no escaping this now, regardless of the fact that she was far too close for him to know how to react. Anything he knew about dancing had been lost all of the sudden, and Keiran could only gaze down at her and try to hide the ache growing in his chest.

This had to be the most brutal form of torture, what the kids were putting them through. And for what? The hope that Millie would change her mind? She’d said she couldn’t. Couldn’t make him trust her, couldn’t prove that they were worth it. So he had bolted in sheer panic and shame, declaring that when the law was over she could have the divorce she’d been looking for. Not only had she wanted someone else, but she hadn’t even been willing to try. Keiran, on the other hand, didn’t eat for days after. Barely slept. The only thing that brought him out of it was the requirement that he go and teach those kids. So they had become his lifeline, and kick started everything else he had learned and accomplished and changed into. So, in the most harsh and dark sense of the phrase, Millie really did get the credit for all he had done.

Turning his head, Keiran let out a pained sigh, adjusting his hold on her so he could pull her even closer. It was his last shot at being around her. Guaranteed. They hadn’t made it ten minutes before he started the argument, so why the hell would she want to do anything like this again?

He wanted to leave. Not because he didn’t want to see her. But because seeing her was killing him. Slowly, painfully, surely killing him. But those sets of eyes watching through the kitchen door window assured him that if he left he’d break at least two more hearts along with his own. Though, really, his had been torn for ages. Years. More than a decade, actually. But whatever.

So he decided that the best route would be to humor the kids, and try and make it so any future attempts at communication wouldn’t have to be so cold and broken and… well, distant. Letter writing really wasn’t his preferred method, after all, when he would much rather the pair of them be comfortable enough to just meet up every now and then. So that way Avery and Elliot wouldn’t be obligated to transfer kids around anymore. Really, though, Keiran wasn’t sure why they still had the trade-off system with how old the kids were now and the whole floo-system possibility. But he didn’t question it, because it was like some kind of lifeline between the two of them and he wasn’t about to give that up. It was like some… some masochistic need that he couldn’t let go of.

Tilting his head, Keiran leaned down, amazed as ever at their height difference, and let himself say the words directly into her ear.

“I am so sorry, Missie.”

Bringing her chair out from the table, Millie rose to her heeled feet and in light of him the addition to her soles made no difference. Sliding her hand into his, she found herself glad to be tugged along by that familiar, warm, gentle grip. When they found their space, he was suddenly all around her like this stifling yet liberating force. His hand on her back, not for the first time that evening, lit her, making her skin tingle and her heart rush within her chest. She turned under his arm, smiling softly as he drew her back and for a long while they held each other, moving gently from side to side against the lulling waves of the music.

When he spoke, Millie tucked her lip between her teeth, the hand perched on his shoulder sliding up to curl around his neck, just as it used to. It was familiar ground. He hadn’t changed in any way, she felt. Underneath the pads of her fingers, he was still her Keiran. Only not. Not her Keiran. She smoothed small circles into his skin and she relished in the feel of his breath against her ear, floating across her lobe, her cheek, diving into her very core. She shifted a little closer as the song floated gently into another, the clink of the mechanism working the only thing alerting her to it, but even that she paid little mind to.

“Shut up,” she muttered to him, her lips arching into a smirk. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

She’d grown up. She had. After they’d divorced properly, she’d been forced to. It was her own bed, of course. She’d made it and was electing to sleep in it. The first thing she did was she went and got the etching off of her back. Wings gone, all angelic aspirations buried, Millie began to rebuild her life. After having several tumultuous years contending back once more with all that had put her in a rough position before she’d met Keiran, she kicked all of her habits. She was clean. Her brother was forced to watch as with startling, military precision she dealt with every incident and curve ball she was thrown. His instinct to protect her had to go, and it did, though it lingered on. She met life. She learned from it. She didn’t hide behind anyone else. She had grown.

Part of that meant having to come to terms with what had happened. Whilst she was most certain that she’d never stop loving the man who held her so close she knew that she also had to acknowledge she was wrong. She’d tried to get on. Rebuild. Rebuild her personal life as well as the one which kept them, her and the children, running. She’d done the dating thing. None of them were him. Then it was a case of putting the ring back on and swallowing her pride. She’d keep him close, at least in spirit, but she’d go it alone. She’d take responsibility for her actions. And by Merlin, she did. That was why she didn’t place any blame on him. She didn’t care for him trying. She was over what happened. She’d never be over him, though.

“I was a child,” she murmured, her fingers slowly beginning to comb through the hair at the nape of his neck. “It was me. It doesn’t matter, though. Really. It’s all past tense. Neither of us got anywhere thinking about all that, eh Mister Headmaster?”

The teasing rolled off her tongue in the end like it had done when they were together at first when every other sentence had been a wind up, when it had been endearing, when she had wanted him so badly to find her interesting, to find that she was someone worth being with. She still didn’t know where their best laid plans had gang awry but she didn’t care, in truth. It was all water under the bridge, all of it. What was important was the fact that for some inexplicably reason, their children were doing this to them. She was quietly grateful for it. Even if it was only a momentary interval in a long, long time and a long, long time to come of her and Keiran being so estranged, so unable to be in the same room together, let alone talk.

“This seems far more normal than I expected,” she whispered, resting her head against his shoulder. “Do you remember,” she asked, “when you said that to me?”

She lifted her head again and extricated her hand from his, lifting it up to meet the other, lacing her fingers together behind his neck. They continued to move idly to the music, occasionally turning, making their way slowly across the small space that the break in the tables and chairs afforded them with.

She smiled at him, the first one that was entirely for him.

It was the one that their children had been waiting for and a cool sigh of relief exhaled its way past Liam’s lips as he plopped himself down on the stool that had been set out for them. Despite himself he laughed, bringing a hand to rub its way over his face as Kelly bounced, throwing her arms around him. He belatedly brought his arms around her, getting up and spinning her about before the pair broke away and crowded around the window, Brian pushing between them as they all scrabbled to watch, to see, to wonder whether the Hayes’ needed that extra push or whether they’d get there on their own.

They had faith in them. It was all on them, this time. This was their chance at having it be different. This was their chance to turn to each other and swear they loved the other completely, just as they’d always wanted.

Keiran wanted to pull back and stare at her, sure she had it all wrong, but it was like her hand around his neck had him trapped. “Then it wasn’t yours either,” he asserted firmly, hardly caring if she decided to go against him. It wasn’t one person’s or the other’s. It was the pair of them just having been unprepared at the time. Even if the law hadn’t happened, they would never have been emotionally stable enough on their own to create any emotional tie between the two of them. Then again, without the stupid law, she would have just been his student. Perhaps as it should have been. But Keiran was tired of thinking about should have beens.

“I remember everything about you.”

The claim wasn’t fully plausible, given the time gap. But he meant the past Millie. His Millie. She leaned away and pulled her hand from his, and Keiran’s breath held, expecting her to go back to the table. They hadn’t eaten, after all, so it wouldn’t have been too surprising. The fear startled him, though, and his free arm snaked around her back. He was careful, of course, to beware any boundaries that might have been put up by his ex-wife regarding distance and…. And hand placement.. Besides, the kids were most definitely still watching.

Her smile caught him off guard, halting his thoughts and sending him back to his mum’s barn that first Christmas. It had been so easy, so casual, so utterly right. Because he loved her then, and there was absolutely no denying he loved her still. Immediately, upon allowing himself to state it mentally, Keiran wanted to just pick her up and never let her leave. Ever. He wanted to kiss her with the passion he should have shown her the whole time – the kind that would have kept her from being unsure about them.

But he just couldn’t.

It broke him all over again to know that he was still stuck on her, still sold on the idea of them. So as his fingers danced over Millie’s back, they mirrored her own. It was as Keiran registered the fact that something else became apparent. He stepped away from her completely, staring down at her hand. “Millie-“

He’d felt the band against his neck like it was nothing, until coming to understand that either he was very, very wrong about her – she was just as stuck as he was – or somehow, the twins had managed to hide an entire marriage to another person. But no, it wasn’t a new one that wrapped around her finger. It was hers. Theirs. He could not believe that she still wore it, after so many years. It wasn’t like he had gotten rid of his either, mind, considering it sat on his dresser and stared him in the face like a right bastard. But that was beside the point.

“You still-?” He attempted. Gathering himself, Keiran looked up to meet her gaze, eyes searching hers, before practically smothering her when he drew her into a desperate embrace. His forehead fell to her shoulder, hands begging for purchase on her shoulder blades. “You still wear it,” he breathed out finally, the awe evident even in his tone. “You kept yours, too.”

“They’re talking,” Brian narrated, dumbly. Kelly turned, glaring at him with unyielding sarcasm – a look that said ‘no, really?’ He pursed his lips in response, pushing off from the window to go and look at the food that was lively and browning off nicely in the pans. The twins meanwhile watched, their fingers on the rim of the window, their shared gazes scanning the room, lifting up and over their parents, taking in the body language, perceiving for themselves for the first time what it meant to have their parents together, properly. It was a little bit like magic, really.

The music clicked over to another song and Millie looked at Keiran, her fingers continuing to drift gently through his hair. She released him without complaint, visible at least, when he pulled from her and she waited, her eyes slightly wide, fearful that he’d go, terrified that he’d make good on his earlier offer, that he’d turn and he’d leave and it would be a sad echo of the dinner fifteen years before, the one that had finished them off entirely. She dropped her gaze but it jumped back up again as he said her name. She blinked, following his gaze and she dropped her hands, sudden shame and embarrassment leaping through her.

But there was nothing, really, to worry after. At once she was gathered up in his arms once more and Millie closed her eyes as her chest moulded against his. She gasped a little, her arms coming around him instinctively. She closed her eyes, revelling in the fact that she wasn’t alone, that she wasn’t carrying the torch on her own. They’d both still cared. They’d both still held on. It was ridiculous then, really, that they’d divorced at all but regardless of that, they’d coveted the love they had for each other. She wasn’t alone in that. Neither was he.

Bringing her hands to his jaw, Millie tickled at his chin with the tips of her fingers, encouraging him to lift his head for her. She cupped his face between her palms and she leaned forward, nudging his nose gently with hers. With their foreheads resting together, Millie smoothed back some of Keiran’s hair, stray pieces being popped back behind his ears, her fingertips fondly tracing the distinguished silver jets through the still thick, black hair she loved. She marvelled to have him, to feel the warmth of his skin under hers, to be able to hear him breathe, to feel his heart beat thrumming through him, to know that he was there, that his arms were around her, that they were despairingly happy because they hadn’t given up on each other. That he hadn’t given up on her and she him.

“I love you,” she whispered, stroking his cheek with the back of her hand. “I’ve never stopped, not for a second.”

She swallowed, hesitantly finding her so-called Gryffindor guile and bravery. She straightened herself a little. She cleared her throat and found herself smiling despite herself, two weak flashes of her lips upward.

“Can I…?” She murmured.

Millie leaned forward and slid her mouth against his, the action as familiar as waking up to greet the day but something so near and dear to her had never felt so good. Squeezing him closer to her she revelled in the kiss, catching his lower lip between her teeth, nipping at it like he used to do with hers before taking him back, deepening the kiss, desperate and hungry to make up for all of the lost time. Into that kiss she turned out all of the feelings that had been cooped up inside of her: the loss, the unhappiness, the eagerness, the desire and moreover the love, the overwhelming love she felt for that man.

Inside the kitchen, the eyes of their children bugged out of their heads. At that critical moment, Kelly lost her balance, her footing disappearing, her hands bracing on Liam’s shoulders, hoping he’d catch her. In fact, her brother too buckled, following the door as it opened, sending the pair of them sprawling out onto the tiles. Kelly bobbed up first, rolling off of her brother’s back, allowing Liam to scrabble to his feet. He offered her hand with which to haul herself back up onto her heeled shoes and the pair turned, bearing highly embarrassed grins.

“Hi,” Liam got out. “We’ll just be going now, shall we?”

“Hold up there you two,” Millie called out, briefly turning to glance at Keiran, pausing to instinctively reach up to wipe away the lipstick on his mouth. She smirked a little before turning in his arms, her hands coming down to hold onto him, to keep him there, though her gaze narrowed at their children.

“Do we at least get points for being highly efficient?” Kelly asked.

“You get points for being utter shits,” Millie scolded them.

It fell on more or less deaf ears though. The twins broke out into matching grins once more and Millie shook her head, unable to quite believe what they’d done. Unable to believe what she’d done. Unable to believe what this might all serve to mean.

“Can we at least eat dinner with you before you ground us forever?” Liam asked.

Like hell, Millie thought sourly, elatedly, but nodded nonetheless.

Keiran lifted his chin at her silent request, a stupidly giddy laugh leaving him. Especially stupid for a man of forty-two. He suddenly felt much younger, though, looking at her so closely. It didn't matter that he was slightly hunched. He was just so damn excited. Painfully and wonderfully so. Millie confirmed his suspicions and Keiran drew in a shaky breath.

Lifting his hands to her face, he passed his thumbs over her cheeks. "Oh, Missie."

"You've never had to ask, my love. You know that," Keiran reminded her gently, meeting Millie halfway. The bits of her hair left down were threaded through by Keiran's fingers and he only just managed bite back a groan as she took his lip between her teeth. His fingers had trailed down to her hips, pulling her flush against him just as a crash came from the kitchen.

Cursing under his breath, Keiran turned to look at the heap where his kids had collapsed. Their kids. The ruiners who had started everything back again. Keiran smiled at Millie when she distracted him, pressing kisses into her fingers just to make her job more difficult. She turned around all the same, and Keiran was pleased that she wasn't embarrassed by their display. His fingers tickled over her ribcage even as she chided the children, unable to keep an amused look off his face.

Keiran was fairly certain Kelly caught his look, but he couldn't bring himself to wipe it away. "C'mon then you brats," he gestured towards the table with his head, using one arm to tug Millie along with him.

They settled around and Brian brought out plates and offered a rather cheeky congratulations, which Keiran couldn't determine how to reply to. Instead, he inched his chair closer to Millie's and narrowed his eyes at Liam's grumble as he leaned towards her. "Shut up, you. This is your own doing, remember." Returning his attention to Millie, he added, "I was just going to say that I missed you."

The meal felt very Von Trapp in its composition, though Keiran didn't dare say so. It was like the coming together or two separate families into one strangely pleasant group. But they had never really been separate. Not truly, and not in heart or mind. Never in heart, not even for a moment. Kelly passed him one of her knowing looks, as she always had, and Keiran winked at her brightly.

"Go on, tuck in." Keiran added, gesturing around vaguely.

Eating kept things quiet for a while before Liam finally spoke, a secretive and amused expression shading his attempt at being casual. "So, dad. Those dedications were for mum, huh?"

If he expected Keiran to struggle, the boy had misread his father.

"Every time."

As they took their seats, they did so as a family. Keiran and Millie took to one side of the table, the twins dropping around cheekily over the other, pushing the candles and other bits of paraphernalia to the bottom. Millie reached forward, using the glasses Brian had brought out for her and Keiran to fill them with ice water. She set the glasses down for their children and turned, smiling as Brian came out through the door with their meals. The twins had clearly been planning for the meal enveloping them, but that would only work out if Keiran and Millie had worked out so it was vaguely disconcerting for their mother to find they knew them just as well as she thought they knew them.

Feeling Keiran’s presence closer beside her, Millie held out her hand across the table, lacing his fingers with her left hand. She smiled at him, laughing a little when he spoke to Liam who was grinning behind his glass despite the show of derision. She brought Keiran’s hand up in hers and pressed her lips to his knuckles, silently confirming a similar position. She had missed him. But then, she had learnt to think of something, anything, else. Fifteen years had blown by, really, and now all of a sudden it was as though the time hadn’t elapsed. They were young again, although really it wasn’t as though they were old, and they were together. They were in love, all over again.

Their idle eating was enough to keep them all quiet, for four people who seemed often so incapable of keeping their mouths shut. Millie’s fingers continued to draw circles and patterns over Keiran’s palm, looping through his fingers and turning over their hands, feeling and remembering every line, every knuckle and every vein. She put her fork down for a moment, reaching to take a sip of her drink. She arched a silent eyebrow at their son when he rose a little, straightening himself up, balancing his cutlery loose in his hands. His probing question didn’t seem to bother either of them. She looked at him, a slow smile lifting her features as she took in his words, remembering every dedication, the way they had made her heart feel light and giddy.

“What does this mean, then?” Kelly asked, looking at her parents carefully, knowing better than to get excited, to get too drunk on hope.

Millie pursed her lips, glancing sideways at Keiran. It was a fantastic question, really. Millie truly had no clue what it all meant. She wasn’t going to pretend to have an answer for her daughter though as she thought about it she supposed they’d take it slow. It was a luxury that hadn’t been afford to them before. They could take their time. They could relearn everything or learn it properly in the first place. It was all well and good that they knew each other inside out from before but they were different people now. So much had changed and going too quick, throwing away sense, would do them no good and no justice. She wanted them to last this time so perhaps there would be nothing better than stretching it out, making it last, making it worth it.

“I think,” she began finally. “We should just take every day at a time,” she glanced at Keiran, looking for his approval, “and see what happens. This is completely our choice now and I think we’re going to do it our way. We’ll do what’s right for us and ultimately what’s right for you two, too.” Kelly nodded. “Because,” Millie went on, “you’re not babies anymore. If things go awry, which I sincerely hope they don’t,” she squeezed Keiran’s fingers, “then you’re going to be affected and it’ll be a nightmare. So, I think slow and steady is the right way.”

The twins seemed satisfied enough but they were brimming with questions all the same. Millie had a feeling they hadn’t thought much ahead from this point. If they had thought it was going to be a quick thing, an easy snap into life with both of their parents in the same home with them then they were mistaken. It wasn’t that Millie didn’t want it but she couldn’t risk losing Keiran again. She didn’t think she’d make it through another fifteen years without him. No, they needed it to be a measured thing. She had a feeling they’d jump right in anyway, pick up easily where they left off, but she didn’t want it to be so fast that they also took on board the problems they’d left behind before. This was a clean slate and that meant a full redo. Mister and Missus part two, as it were.

“You gonna stay for a while then, dad?” Liam asked swallowing a mouthful of pizza, having stolen a slice off of Kelly’s plate much to her ire.

Millie looked over at Keiran again, her index finger sliding down from the tip of his middle finger, through his palm to his wrist then drifting back up. She wanted him to stay, she knew. Arguably that didn’t quite fit into her realm of taking things slow but she knew she was a dastardly hypocrite and, for heaven’s sake, it had been nearer sixteen years since they’d shared a bed. She didn’t want him in every capacity, not in that moment at least. She just wanted to hold him, to bask in the fact that he was there. She wanted to be able to wake up and know that she did so wrapped in his arms. She wanted to be able to wriggle out from the covers, kiss his brow and go for her run only to come home and find him there, still, a living confirmation that it wasn’t a dream.

“I’d like you to,” Millie expressed, curling her hand around her glass, bringing it to her lips. “If you’re not busy that is,” she added, sitting it down on the table.

“We still get to go up to Skerries next weekend though, right?” Liam asked, panic coming over his features.

“Yes,” Millie sighed, rolling her eyes. “Heaven forbid anyone takes the boy from his windsurfing.”

“You two get to go paddle boarding, don’t complain,” he shot back, not skipping a beat, looking between his mother and his sister.

Kelly scoffed at him. “Oh, please. I’m taking the kayak.”

Millie shot a weary look in Keiran’s direction, sighing a little, a smile overcoming her features. It seemed as though it was going to be business as usual. As far as their children were concerned, they’d had their success so now it was about getting into a family situation and that meant being indulged by both of them the same way Millie did. Whenever the weather was good – which meant, when the weather was windy enough – they took the car up to the beach and while Liam bounced off of the top of the water, Kelly and Millie wandered around Skerries point either in kayaks or on paddle boards, the latter being Millie’s preferred method. Then eventually Liam would catch up with them and they’d have lunch, a few drinks and think about wandering home. That was often their Fridays and Saturdays. It was about time Keiran got to share that with them.

Not that it appeared anyone had a choice, it seemed.

"It means," Keiran started slowly, returning Millie's sideways look, "that we get to be more careful." The kids had heard bits and pieces from him over the years, explaining that neither had been ready at the time and that so many things were working against them. Giving Millie's hand a squeeze, he nodded in agreement when she added on.

It was sensible to take things slow - well, slower than they had before. Because last time had shown him not to dive in too quickly. Somehow, Millie had broken down his walls before he'd even realized it. It had taken her only minutes to do it again, and Keiran couldn't deny the fact that the moment she kissed him he wanted to just keep her that close forever. He hadn't even attempted to see other people after they split, because he could never imagine anyone being as important as she had been - as she still was.

The question made him hesitate only slightly, but he opened his mouth to reply just as Millie caught his attention. "Well, kids, I'd really like to. There are some things that your mum and I will have to figure out, though, so I don't know quite how that will work yet."

It was very true. They had a lot to consider and talk about and decide on. They would have a lot to deal with in a month when he went back to Hogwarts. He was desperate to stay with her, but his life wasn't something he knew how to give up. He wanted to add her into it, not take his away. It was selfish of him to forget about her job and her life, and he chided himself for it mentally. She couldn't exactly move into the castle with him; besides, the kids might lose their minds.

"Merlin forbid I keep you from the water," Keiran joked, hiding his anxiety. Even still, his fingers had been dancing over Millie's, but they halted in order to release her hand and instead wrap his arm around her middle. Other chair or not, Keiran continually wanted her closer. "If anything comes up this week, I can come back for that."

The Ministry, he knew, and his school obligations could get in the way in more ways than his going off to teach. But as the dinner continued, he decided to turn to other things - like what the kids had been up to all summer since he had not seen them. The half-year trade worked to some extent, but it certainly made him miss out on things. Their first steps had been missed just as their words had. Keiran wasn't even sure he knew what they had been.

The meal drew to it's natural close, including thanks directed at Brian and sarcasm directed at the twins when they expected some as well. Instead of humoring them, Keiran nudged them with his foot until they led the way out into the street. Taking the bag from Millie, he offered his hand as they walked. Before long, they were walking through the door of her flat, and Keiran found himself staring around at his first chance to see it. After a quick tour around by Kelly, Keiran flopped onto the couch in the living room and pulled Millie down with him.

A glance down the hall showed closed doors, though Keiran wasn't sure they actually intended to go to sleep. A part of him expected them to take to the snake-like tendencies of the house they shared, and to listen through the doors anyway. He lowered his voice accordingly, taking up her hands in his and fixing her with a serious expression. "Missie, I want to stay on. I do. But I think we both know that it will just make things harder come school. All three of us will leave, and I refuse to see you come with us now that you've got your show and the award and... I can't take it from you just because I want to have you with me. And I really really want you there. But me being around all the time just to take off when they go and leave you alone... It's just going to hurt us both."

His gaze fell to their joined hands, trying to recall the last time that had happened, but his fingers didn't stay put for very long. Instead, they lifted to work their way into her hair. "If you'll have me, I'd love to stay the weekend. I don't exactly have my things here, but I could pop over and back. But if that is too much now that's fine. We said slow and I can do slow. It might kill me, but I can manage." He tacked on the end as a joke, but he was almost serious. It was taking all he had in him not to just pick her up and set her on his lap and kiss her for all she was worth.

"I love you, Melissa. For you, I can manage."

The candles burned their way down the length of the wax until the liquid snuffed out the little amber lights. The jug of water ebbed away, the food disappeared from their plates and eventually they sat back in their chairs, Millie’s head against Kieran’s shoulder, her eyes opening and closing intermittently as she listened to their children talk animatedly with their father. The easy close to the meal came about and Millie roused herself enough to embrace Brian tightly, promising to return in the week to see the new band that was coming to play. Kisses were given for the girls, firm, masculine handshakes afforded to the boys. Their laughter bubbled easily within them as they stepped out into the cool, evening air of Dublin and as they pushed off, making their way home, Millie couldn’t find a time in the back of her mind when she’d been happier. This was different happiness, though, to all of the others she’d felt. This was relief, too, and a reward for all of the waiting, to finally have his hand back in hers.

The apartment as thankfully not that far from the bar. They trotted up the few flights of stairs and Millie fumbled with the keys, managing to get the door open finally, the twins moving inside quickly as their parents hung back a little, Millie herself absorbing the great wave of heat that washed over her from inside. It was a heat trap, their home, and helpful though it was in the winter it was blisteringly unpleasant during the summer. Millie flicked on the lights and put the keys in the dish on the entrance nook table. She then took her wand from her bag and tossed a spell in the direction of the windows spanning the wall opposite that were guilty for letting the warmth into the living, kitchen and dining room. They opened with a slam and she poked the wand back behind her ear as she strayed into the little quadrant that housed the three piece suite and the coffee table along with Liam’s precious television which contained all the sport he could desire.

“This is home,” Millie explained, turning a little to smile at him as she set her bag down on the coffee table.

Kelly eagerly whisked him off for the grand tour, albeit it was nothing much. The aforementioned rooms were open plan and that allowed for a little bit more space than would have been afforded to them had it all been closed off. Down a wide hall that was interspersed with pictures on the walls and a few plants in pots to break up the monotony along the way, a rug streaming through the middle, you would find their bedrooms. Kelly’s was first, followed by Liam’s and on the end was Millie’s. Opposite Liam’s was the bathroom, Kelly’s the utility room and on the wall opposite Millie’s room a tall window took up the space. The balcony that linked up from the open plan area was Millie’s favourite spot. From there, the whole of Dublin was laid out before her just waiting to be conquered.

Whilst Kelly and Liam fought over who got to show Keiran their bedroom first, Millie took the opportunity to make up a couple of cups of coffee. She’d just finished stirring them up when Keiran returned, the children yelling their goodnights. Kisses were foregone that night it seemed and Millie brought the mugs over to the table, managing to get them down on their coasters before she was pulled down beside her husband. She laughed a little, kicking off her shoes as she curled in against him. Her expression changed when he took up her hands and she looked at him quizzically, her expression softening gently when she realised what he meant.

“Love,” she murmured, “It’s going to hurt but it’s not going to be the end of the world. We’ve done all the waiting there is to do and I’d say, at least for myself, I’m fairly used to it. If not that then I am most definitely used to being on my own from September to June – I’m very well practised in it. I’m not saying I won’t miss you any less but I’m not going to lose my mind just because I’m on my own. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, it really doesn’t worry me.” She lifted his hands up to her and she kissed his knuckles, popping her lips against each finger before looking at him, a smirk sliding over her features. “Besides, I’ll be in the area a fair bit. I’m dating the headmaster, you see, so whenever he happens to be in Hogsmeade I’m sure you’ll be able to get a hold of me. Plus the floo,” she added, “there’s always the floo.”

Fifteen years ago, that little monologue would not have crossed her mind, let alone have left her mouth. It was impossible to think that their separation had been precipitated by the fact that she couldn’t be without him. Now, however, she knew she could. She could do it because she had the show and the reward and she’d done her time without him. She’d also done her time without their children by her side and she knew what to do with herself. She took pleasures elsewhere. She joined a series of ridiculous clubs she wrote to the children about. She made her way through movies she never would have considered watching before. She joined gyms and went to night classes and she found structure to her life, structure that hadn’t been there last time. She also read, exponentially.

Millie’s hands found Keiran’s arms and she stroked along them, taking in his words, taking in him, from his sincerity, to his pleading eyes to the wispy silver in his hair. She curled a hand around his cheek and she tipped herself forward a little, onto her knees, bringing herself up and level with his face.

“You’re staying,” she told him simply. “Bugger slow, right now. I know that it’s stupid. We can’t just jump in and assume things will work themselves out because that’s mad. There’s other things, other people, to worry about. I mean, we’re different, aren’t we? We didn’t stagnate for fifteen years and what we’ve done is living proof of that so we need to fix what was wrong, talk about things and really relearn each other. That’ll be the slow bit. But tonight, I need you with me. I need you in my bed. And you don’t even need to go home. Look.”

Millie got up, leaning forward briefly to kiss him, getting as many of them while she still could, and she hopped up. Pausing to pick her coffee up she waited to take Keiran’s hand before tugging him down the hallway to the end where she bumped the bedroom door open with her hip. She moved inside, plopping her coffee down on the bedside cabinet, and crossed the room over to the large dressed opposite the bed. She leaned down and crouched, tugging the lower drawer out to reveal neatly folded t-shirts, a couple of pairs of boxers and even a pair of jeans though she couldn’t quite remember why she had taken them at the time. She supposed they’d just been what she’d grabbed onto or had gotten lost in the whirlwind of packing. The t-shirts, however, she’d consciously stolen from him. They’d long since lost his smell but they were still his – the reminder still held its potency.

“I reckon you’re about the same size,” she estimated, pushing it to once more.

Millie then went over to the windows, opening them up before twiddling the blinds closed. Her bedtime routine didn’t really change much over the years but dinner had taken over the time when she would usually languish in the bath. Tonight she was eager to get under the covers, however, and she unbuttoned her earrings from her lobes and set them down on the bedside table in the little box they’d been in. She popped it shut and then dropped it into the drawer, knocking that shut with her bum before pulling back the overs, turning down the duvet and the sheets before tugging away the long pillow, letting the others drop down, their movement sending the scent of fresh, sun-dried sheets into the air.

“Unzip me, would you?” She asked of him, turning around, pulling her hair over her shoulder. “I’ll never be able to catch hold of these no matter how long I live.” She laughed a little and shook her head, her fingers absently combing through her hair as she thought away to herself.

It was then that it dawned on her that Keiran had called her by her full name. She turned to him, her brows narrowing over her eyes. She wiggled a little shifting her arms out of her dress before letting it drop down over her until she was left in her underwear. Grown up though she was, modesty hadn’t come with time and it especially didn’t when faced with a man who had not only seen her naked more times than she dared to imagine but he’d also seen her give birth. There was no need for false modesty. There was just a need to be.

“You called me Melissa,” she accused him. “How dare you.” Millie couldn’t help but smirk, however and she popped forward, dress in hand, reaching up to steal a kiss from him once more. “I’ll forgive you,” she told him. “Because it’s you. And you’re wonderful. And I love you. So for you, I can manage with Melissa.”

Keiran wished he wasn’t as surprised at her reply, but he knew that fifteen years inevitably changed a person. Even someone as headstrong and outgoing as Millie. She wasn’t dependent on anyone anymore, though sometimes it had seemed to him like he got to be the person she leaned on. Those were undoubtedly – or, in his opinion – the times that they worked best. Back then he had needed the chance to be the person others leaned on. Now he had ample opportunity through other means, and was actually looking forward to spending time with someone who didn’t need him to the extent he so often was. Truly, it would be a change of pace – even from Theo, though Keiran dared not say as much, because he inevitably felt a need to fill his role to the brim, rather than just enough. Sometimes he probably came on particularly strong, but the Hayes (Rookwood) man really just wanted to be of some use, and at the start he hadn’t had Millie there to need him. Just the twins when given time and the kids at the school. So the Ministry and Hogwarts had been the obvious next topics for him.

He admittedly felt guilty when she pointed out that she was used to waiting. On him? On other people? He hoped it was the latter, because that put less of the blame on his stupid, stubborn, self-conscious Slytherin self. Keiran cracked a smile, though, when she tagged on a more upbeat comment. “Are you, now? I hadn’t heard. Can you imagine the rumors the kids will start about him? Poor thing. It’s lucky he has two offices, I guess. He can probably sneak off to the Transfiguration office if people start asking questions. But I daresay you’ll make do, the pair of you, even if secret meetings are necessary.”

It was actually kind of amusing, he decided, being less stiff and stoic as compared to his old self. This more cheeky version of Keiran seemed to suit Millie far better, besides.

You’re staying. Fantastic. He would’ve gone mad, otherwise. Sleep would never have arrived, sandman or not. Relearning sounded right. He was different, he knew, so there was no way Millie hadn’t changed. He’d already seen bits of the new Millie, and something told him he would really enjoy relearning the bits of the old one that he could remember. Vivid, those memories.

As ever, his thought process had remarkably bad timing, as he came to the end of that particular track just as she said she needed him in her bed. He nearly choked on his coffee, but raised an eyebrow at the words that came after. Curious didn’t begin to cover it, so he took up her hand and followed her down to her room, only to find himself staring down at the dresser drawer. It was like he had never left. Or, rather, like he was the boyfriend who had been allotted his own drawer for weekly overnights. It all felt rather unseemly – scandalous, even – but his heart warmed at the sight regardless. Keiran grinned, picking out one of his favorites – the one he had bothered to search around for later – and intended to trade his suit for the tee and a pair of boxers.

He turned to search for the loo – figuring, yes, she said they could hang the ‘slow’ thing for a bit, but maybe she meant in the moving in part. Because clearly that part was already started. It felt rather like a trap, her request. But she was laughing and his – again – stupid self couldn’t help but do as she asked.

Keiran turned his head, a hand coming up to rub at his neck as the dress fell. Her near-glare caught him off guard, though, and he registered the fact that, actually, he’d gotten away with it. He’d been testing the waters, trying to see if he could help her learn some new tricks, too. Perhaps he would make her appreciate her name, yet.

“Good,” he replied gently, unable to help it – well, deciding not to bother avoiding the inevitable – when his arms encircled her waist. “I always liked it. And if everyone but me gets in trouble for using it, that means I’m a little special, huh?” A wink was sent her way before he drew back, tossing his suit jacket – which, really, he wasn’t sure why the hell he was still wearing. The tie followed, set atop the dresser, and his dress shirt was unbuttoned.

No, he wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Millie was still as unashamed as ever. Nor did he lack the general understanding that he could probably get away with murder provided he shirked his clothes. But he also knew that, if given the chance, he would be that guy that wasted the first chance he had with the girl he loved. Yeah, it wouldn’t be their first first. But it could feel like it if given the opportunity.

After all, Keiran was pretty sure their first first time was in a shower of all places. Hardly the sort that you file away as the most romantic thing ever.

In fact, he half wished she hadn’t gone and told him to undo the dress zip. Kieran had been hoping for that sort of slow burn that, really, just ended up combusting anyway, but sure made it a hell of a lot more fun in the end. He supposed, though, after some mild consideration, that they had already dealt with that. Fifteen stupid years of that.

So he waited until Millie might have given up on him taking the initiative, before tossing the shirt to the floor and walking up behind her. He would, just as he always had, be annoyed with the mess come morning. But he hardly cared now, did he?

His right hand brushed along her side and around to her stomach as the left moved her hair to the side once more. Planting kisses at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, Keiran smiled into her skin. He could get into serious trouble for it. And look like a complete shit. But it was a little to late to start thinking rationally. So he would leave it up to her. “You sure you don’t want slow?” His lips drifted up to kiss the skin behind her ear. “Tell me to stop and I will.”

There was a certain amount of comedy in the fact that here Melissa Finnigan stood in her underwear before her former husband whom she had confessed her love to after fifteen years of being divorced all because their children had used the Slytherin traits he had given to them and the mischief she’d endowed them with to bring them back together again. Had it not been for the bumps, the bruises, the little stretches of skin here and the weariness of other parts there then for all the world she would have thought she was eighteen again. She was long gone on that front, both of them were, but the feelings were all too familiar. Too addictive. To alluring. She knew that she was a fool for him. This only all served to prove it.

Their easy banter felt as though it was from a different time altogether. She couldn’t help her tinkling laughter. His wit was dry, wry and as clever as Theodore had assured them all it remained. To hear it close to her, to be upon the receiving end, to turn it back at him, to tease him, it was an ecstasy all of its own. She’d not realised above all else how much she’d missed talking to Keiran. She’d not realised even at the time how much their communication mattered and how before anything else they’d let that suffer. By the time attempts to repair it came, the damage had already been done and to salvage it was more trouble than it had first appeared to be. They’d let it go. She’d let it go. She’d let him go. This night had shed light on how foolish she had been.

Upon catching sight of Keiran’s chest, laid bare before her, she felt her heart quicken a little in her chest. His fingers absently brushing her back as he pulled down the zipper set her skin in goose pimples. She slid by him thereafter, folding the dress in her hands, opening up the wicker hamper to drop it inside. She’d gotten tidier, somewhat. Her shoes she’d abandoned in the living room but she’d fetch them in the morning, it wasn’t a problem. She liked a pristine house. Cleaning, also, helped her think. In her world which was all-go at times, she needed that time to break, to find a rhythm, and it helped her find new music to play for she went through dozens of tracks while she scoured the house top to bottom. Her heart stilled, though, when she felt his fingers on her sides.

Millie’s stomach quivered, retracting from his feather light graze. Her breathing zipped from her lips involuntarily, her eyes sliding shut as her hair swathed across her shoulders, making way for his still-soft lips to take to her skin. A moan slipped from between her teeth and she leaned back against him, only half hearing what he was telling her. She knew they shouldn’t. It defied all of their precepts for slow. Them being in the same room, him staying, defied all that but given they’d taken those steps, what was this when it had been fifteen long, lonely years?

His breath was hot, his voice low and sensual against her ear. Her knees, as much as her stereotypes didn’t lend to the damsel in distress trope, buckled a little and she lost the will to keep him from her. Her heart hammered against her chest, her breathing was irregular, erratic, and whilst everything else about her was unsure, lit on a path of fire by his touch, she knew that there was one thing she wanted, one person, she wanted and that was of course him. Slow was a fallacy. Slow was impossible. Slow was intolerable with his body against hers, his mouth on her flesh, his fingers tickling, finding sensitive spots that she was sure she’d even forgotten about. She felt like absolute jelly in his arms. She was gone.

“If you stop now, Keiran Hayes, I’ll kill you,” she whispered fervently, turning in his arms, claiming his lips roughly with her own.

Millie pushed Keiran back, guiding him towards the bed until his legs hit the end, sending them back onto the covers. Her legs fell astride his hips and she leaned over him, her hair spilling over them, her hand groping out for the wand she’d set down on the bedside table. She flashed two spells around the room: a locking charm on the door and a silencing charm on the room itself. The wand was then tossed across the room and Millie grasped Keiran, seizing him closer, closer and closer. Her hands reached down, pulling at the buckle of his belt. Once she scrabbled it free from the loops of his trousers it was thrown behind her, the subsequent bang letting her know it had landed. Clothes were shimmied out of, flung away from them and bed sheets were rumpled and busied this way and that as in one night fifteen years were wiped off of the board, as fifteen years of loneliness, of missing each other, reached its crescendo and that wait came, finally, to its climax.

Sated was not a word that described closely enough the way Millie felt when she let her body crumple, exhausted, into the soft, waiting comfort of the bed. With her head against the plump pillows, her hair falling over it in blonde ripples, she took a few moments to gather her breath. She brought a hand up to her head and she drew her fingers through the front of her hair. She then began to laugh, her light, incredulous giggle bounding into the air brightly. She turned into her lover and kissed his side, underneath his arm, across his ribcage. She lifted she sheets up, drawing them around their bodies, and she shuffled closer to Keiran, draping her arm across his middle, leaning into him, nuzzling against his neck.

“Not bad for being fifteen years out of practise, eh?” She murmured, kissing his jaw.