In Seven Days

Chapter Five

In Seven Days

Christmas Shopping

Day Four

Tuesday December 22^nd 2009

Ginny turned over and felt a something solid blocking her mid-roll. She opened her eyes slowly as she lay on her back and saw the smiling face of her husband staring down at her. She gasped aloud and covered her face with one of her hands. It may be quite lovely to be studied like that but this whole waking up next to him thing was still something she would need to get use to - and fast. She just couldn't be jumping whenever she saw him like this. She was meant to be married to him, for quite some time if she had her facts correct. When she parted a few fingers to look at him, he had tilted his head to the side and was looking at her as if he were trying to decipher a particularly complex equation.

"Is something wrong?"

She removed her hand. "No, you just scared me." She hit him playfully on the arm.

"Scared you?" he repeated adding to the look he was wearing. After all, who else would be there to wake her up? He had done it before. Quite a few times actually.

"Yes. It's nothing honestly."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Okay then," he shrugged letting it go. "Well, you have to get dressed. We're leaving in an hour." He got up and made for the door.

It was then that Ginny realised that he was fully dressed, in a coat and everything. She sat up and stared at him as he opened the door to leave. She knew she was probably supposed to know the answer to this question but she had to ask it anyway. "Where are we going?" And, as she predicted, he turned with that confused look she had seen him sport ever since she got there.

He once again took a few seconds to stare wonderingly at his wife. "We're going shopping for Christmas. Have you forgotten? You've only been pestering for weeks."

"I have?"

He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. "Do you want me to remind you?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Some of the persuasional tactics you used were actually not all that bad." He smiled mischievously.

Ginny openly blushed. "No, that will not be necessary."

He shrugged and stood up straight. "Well, as long as you're sure. I'll be downstairs."

Ginny nodded and waited for him to close the door before letting loose a knowing grin that would have put her twin brothers to shame.

***

"I want this one!" Sebastian said for the n^th time that morning.

"Not now Sebastian, it's still before lunch and we have the rest of Diagon Alley to cover."

"Dad, I'm hungry," Cadence chimed in.

Draco rolled his eyes and wondered what the hell was taking Ginny so long. As if she had answered his question, she came running out panting. "Sorry I took so long. The sales people didn't want to let me go for some reason." She shoved the bag into a larger bag to hide it from him. She had gotten an owl just after he left telling her that his Christmas present was ready and she had stared at it for a while before thanking the god's for small mercies, and the fact that her other self seemed to be much more organized than she would ever dream to be. It must be him, she thought as she looked sideways at him. He's rubbed off on me.

"No problem, but now I have to make a little stop of my own. I have to buy a door apparently."

"A door? Whatever for?"

"To replace the one that a customer broke down when they attacked one of the workers who refused to let them in my office yesterday. Damn muggles think everything is replaceable."

"You are joking? What kind of customers do you have?" She then realised that she had no idea where he worked. He worked with muggles was another surprising thing.

"The kind that really wanted to talk to me about something, apparently. Sometimes I am glad for that roof, it's the only sanctuary I have."

She frowned, he spoke as if she was supposed to know what that meant. "Hmm," she settled with.

"I have to go there now and see just how bad it is and if I can repair it." He looked at her. "You don't mind do you?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all."

He nodded and picked up Cadence as Ginny followed suit with Sebastian. As she had no idea where they were going to apparate, she edged closer to him so that he was touching her and they both apparated together. She then appeared in what looked like a bright room with large panes of glass acting as every wall. She looked around at the lobby of the very extravagant looking hotel on the other side of the glass trying hard not to look too surprised. She stared at Draco who was in the process of holding open the door. The glass door that she would not have noticed was a door if she hadn't seen the round door knob that gave it away.

As she stepped out of the strange room, she noticed the glass was much darker on the other side compared to the clear glass she had just seen and to the left of her there was a long desk that could have put the Great hall's tables to shame. She followed him as he walked towards it and saw the disgruntled woman behind it who seemed to be refusing to smile - or just be happy in general. There was a very long pen in her hand which looked suspiciously like a wand if she didn't know any better.

"Grace, what have I told you about smiling?" Draco said as he stood at the large desk that spanned along the wall. He put Cadence to sit on it as he leaned over and searched the stationery cup in front of the woman. She hit his hand with the 'pen' and Ginny wasn't seeing things when she tapped the cup and small sparks emitted from it before the key Draco was searching for appeared.

So she is a witch, which must mean that it's a mixed hotel.

The solemn looking witch watched her employer with mirth. "The day these muggles give me something to smile at I will do it, genuinely, Sir. With every ounce of magic in me, I will do it. Until then, I shall continue to fake it as it secures my job, Sir." She looked at the line and put on the fakest smile she could summon. "Welcome to The Precedence Hotel, how can I help you?" she said louder to the man behind them.

Draco laughed. "As long as it's understood. Keep up the good work." He turned to Ginny and kissed her. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Oh," she said in surprise, "okay then." She watched him walk away and stood at the side.

"Excuse me," she heard behind her. She turned to see a group of people watching her. "Are you in line?"

Ginny looked at the line behind her and gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry," she smiled politely. "No, I'm not." She looked at Grace and asked where she could go.

"There's a playroom in the back for the kids, you can go there."

"Well, could you move? We would like to check in," he said rudely.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and let Cadence sit back on the desktop. She continued to look at Grace who cocked an eyebrow as if to say 'I told you so.' "I beg your pardon?" she said incredulously letting Cadence go and turning back to him. She glared at the man causing him to stand back a little. As he did she got a thrill and felt something come over her, the same something that had come over her when she was making the speech, as if she dealt with this everyday. She lowered her voice to an intense shocked whisper. "What did you just say to me?" She put her hands on her hips feeling very much like her mother again. This time however, she did not take them down. "How dare you speak to me like that?"

"Erm... sorry but you are holding back the line." She could tell he was still trying to keep up his manly demeanor. She did not, however, notice the bell boy running off to fetch the owner of the establishment.

Right now, Ginny didn't give a toss about the establishment. "I don't give a shit if I'm in your way to get a new kidney. If you want me to move all you have to say is, 'excuse me miss but could I get past,' or 'would you mind if I just handed this in?'" she said sweetly. "Not, 'move,'" she said harsher mimicking him form before. "Who the hell do you think you are?" She took her daughter's hand and lifted her to the ground and took her son's hand leading them behind the desk. "Grace, could you watch them for me please?" Grace stood and took the children's hands to lead them to the backroom where they normally went to play with the other children of the employees.

Ginny turned at the desk watching the man in contempt and took off her coat placing it at the back of Grace's chair. She then turned back to the man and stood staring at him. "I think you need an attitude adjustment. Now, welcome to The Precedence Hotel, how can I help you?" she smiled fiercely.

The man suddenly looked scared. "Um, Mum!" he called behind him. He didn't think it would take this much effort to sign into a hotel. Soon an older woman, who looked just like him, came to stand at the desk. "Sign in for me would you?"

"Why? Is there a problem?" The woman glanced warily from her son to Ginny and back again.

Ginny plastered her fake smile and made it even brighter. "Yes, ma'am there is. Your son is the rudest man I have ever met and believe me, in my profession, I have met a few of them." She then dropped the smile and glared at him full force. "He has no manners and cannot address a woman with respect to save his life." She was mildly aware of Grace returning and of drawing a bit of attention from the rest of the lobby. She leaned dangerously on the desk and glared at him thoroughly.

The woman turned to her son and eyed him closely. "What did you say to her? We win a pleasant stay and all you want to do is ruin it for the family?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I just asked her to move, I didn't mean it to upset her." He flinched when his mother hit him upside the head.

"I am sorry about him. He takes after his own genes, it has nothing to do with his parents, believe me."

"It's quite alright ma'am, just pay close attention to him in the future."

"I will. Now, we'd like to sign in please. We won a free stay here in a competition."

"Certainly."

***

The bell boy came to a halt at his employer's door. He tried to hold in his laughter. "Sir, I think you need to see this."

Draco turned around with an angry look on his face. The door to his office had been completely blown off the hinges and it had no hopes of salvation. "What is it?" he glared.

The bell boy shrank back a little. "It's Mrs. Malfoy sir. She's doing it again."

Draco rolled his eyes with a smile. This was the third time in a month. "If she keeps this up I will have no more customers. What did they do?"

"Apparently he told her to move. She's yelling at him now." He turned to follow his employer.

Draco ran the rest of the way to the lobby to see his wife leaning angrily across the desk and glaring at a man that must have been the one who had told her to 'move.' He crossed his arms leaning against a wall and smiled, she was behind the desk. She kept denying that she missed working there but he knew it wasn't true. She liked working with people, even the rude ones that got her upset. Reason being she could yell at them. The bell boy turned to him.

"Aren't you going to stop this?"

He scoffed. "Why, she knows what she's doing."

"She's going to drive them away you know."

"No, she's not. She's going to sign them in and give him hell while she does it. She use to work here, she knows what she's doing." He continued to watch the proceedings.

"I am sorry about him," he heard. "He takes after his own genes, it has nothing to do with his parents, believe me." The woman glared at her son.

Ginny slowly let go of the counter. She narrowed her eyes at the man. "It's quite alright ma'am, just pay close attention to him in the future. Many women wonder why there are no decent men in this world. I always said I'd ask one if I found them, I stole a decent one myself and I'm glad I did it or else I would have ended up with someone like this." She gestured to him for good measure.

"I know... and I will. Now, we'd like to sign in please." Ginny stared at the woman as she was given her muggle passport.

Ginny took it and hid her surprise very well. She turned to Grace who was watching her as if she were her best friend. "Certainly, Grace will take your name and details. Enjoy your stay. And you," she said pointing to the man who now stood behind his mother. "I'm watching you," she said approaching a harsh whisper with every word. "Mind your step." When he didn't answer his mother turned around and hit him again.

"Answer the girl."

"Erm... yeah - yes, of course." He closed his eyes in embarrassment as the others in the line behind him laughed.

Ginny nodded and turned to go into the back room where she saw her children playing. "You guys ready to go? I don't really want to be here right now. How about an ice-cream?"

They both smiled broadly and stood up to follow her outside. She turned to get her coat and laughed at Grace's smile. "Could you tell Draco that I'm taking them for ice-cream?" When Grace nodded she continued outside. As she passed the lobby, most of the other inhabitants wisely moved from her path and she exited with a child holding onto each hand.

Draco made his way to the desk passing the family that was currently checking in. He eyed the man that was rude to his wife and smiled wickedly at the bright shade of red on his face. "Where did she go?" he asked Grace who looked for once like she was smiling of her own accord.

"She took them for ice-cream." She turned to her boss. Draco could see the grin in her eyes as well as on her lips. "I really like her, she made my day," she laughed happily. "She should come back, my life here would be so much easier." She continued scribbling down details of the family's address.

"Are you the manager?" the man asked him quietly.

He eyed him callously without facing him. "I'm the owner," he corrected him as he looked at what Grace was writing. He didn't really want to acknowledge them.

The man gained some confidence. "You need to have a word with some of your staff Mr. It's not right to have employees that yell at just about any person they want if they're in a bad mood."

Draco turned to him. "And it's not right for you to address a woman with 'move,' instead of 'excuse me.' What's your point?" he said indifferently.

He stepped forward. "My point is, you should fire her for speaking to customers in such a way."

"Well," Draco replied mimicking his actions and stepping toward him. "Even if I could," he said with enthusiasm, "which I can't," he said feigning disappointment before his face grew solemn. "I wouldn't." He got a thrill when the man stepped back a pace.

"I - If you could? What do you mean?"

"I mean, she doesn't work here," he said monotonously. "Grace could you get me the address of that door place in London? I have a feeling I will need to buy a new one anyway." Grace nodded and began searching through the address book.

"So... she just yelled at me for no apparent reason?" Grace tapped Draco's shoulder to give him the slip of paper.

"No she had a very apparent reason," he said turning to her, "you were rude to her. I applaud her if anything. You should have more manners when addressing a lady." He read the address on the paper. "Isn't there another one that's closer?" He gave her back the slip and she looked through it again. Then she found another store a few streets away and wrote it down to give him.

The man waited for Draco to turn around. "She was no lady."

Draco looked up from the new address he was reading. "You'd think you would learn to watch your tongue."

"Why?"

He stepped forward again. "She is my wife."

The man hissed as he was hit upside the head once more by his mother.

***

Ginny sat in the ice-cream parlor in silence wondering what the hell just happened in the hotel across the street. She didn't know what was wrong with her, if it was the atmosphere or what. She knew it felt exactly like when she was in the auditorium opening the connection. Perhaps she was channeling her other self, she didn't know, but she knew it felt good. Everything felt good these past few days and she noticed that she didn't want to leave as much as she did before. It was saddening and she found herself thinking up more and more ways of how she could stay. She had come up with few theories but they seemed like long shots anyway. She would like to know if there was a chance in them though and for once didn't think she'd mind running into Janos today.

"Mum, where are we staying this year for New Years?"

Ginny was reminded once again that she may not get a chance to see Christmas with them, seven days was up on Christmas day, the twenty-sixth and onwards would be impossible. She went quiet, she was enjoying herself and she only had two days left. "Um, I guess at home. I hope we go to the burrow. We used to go every year when I was with-." She was about to say Harry but stopped even though they were waiting for the rest of the sentence.

"With what?" Cadence prompted. Ginny almost laughed, just like her father wanting to know everything about anything.

"With... child," she said with sudden inspiration.

"Which one? Me?" Cadence said.

"Er... yeah, sure. Why not." She continued spooning at her ice-cream.

"Having fun?" she heard behind her and turned at the familiar voice.

"Dad! Look, I got triple chocolate with chocolate...erm, chips I think they are. Muggles are chocolate lovers like us, see?" she took a large spoonful of chocolate ice-cream into her mouth.

"That's... very nice, Cadence." He took a seat beside Ginny and stole a spoon of her ice-cream. "Ginny, have you any idea why I just threw out an entire family from my hotel?" He grimaced as he swallowed it.

Ginny frowned wondering why he was eating it if he didn't like it. "No. Why did you just throw out an entire family from your hotel?" she smiled repeating. She had an idea that she knew the answer though.

"I just threw out an entire family from my hotel because one particular man had no manners to anything female. After he was rude to you, he then insulted you after you left and proceeded to 'look,' at the Russian Ambassador's daughter's arse." He stopped as Cadence laughed. "The Magical Russian Ambassador's daughter. So before I had to deal with muggles finding out about the wizarding world in a not-so-gradual way, I had to throw them out and re-direct their competition winnings to another hotel. Isn't that nice?" he said feigning glee and plastering the fakest smile she had ever seen.

Ginny narrowed her eyes trying to figure out if this was a good thing or a bad thing. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble for you. I honestly don't know what came over me." That was, at least, the truth. She had no idea where it had all come from, she just had an urge to yell at people. Perhaps he had rubbed off on her more than she thought.

"Hmm, well it was all for the good I suppose." He took another spoonful and then grimaced again as he swallowed.

"Dad?"

He turned. "Yes Sebastian."

"Where are we staying for New Years?" he asked ignoring what they were saying with the uncaring tone of a six year old. Even Ginny was interested in this answer.

Draco shrugged. "Home."

"Which one?"

"Well this year isn't a home year so... Christmas eve at Molly's then-."

"Mum?" Ginny said surprised. Had her family really accepted this? Besides her mother, that was obvious. Had Ron really let it go? From what she remembered, he'd rather kill her than see her with Malfoy.

Draco cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah..." he said slowly. "So?"

"And there are no fights?" she asked not believing what she was hearing. Her brother was one to hold grudges. Big time.

"Is that an order or a request?" he said smiling.

"It's a question."

"Well you were there last year and the year before, what do you think?"

"Refresh my memory."

"Well, three years ago, Weasley conspired with Potter to play a little trick on me. Of which you found out about I guess, though you never told me how you did it. You walked into the trap before I had a chance to and they were apologizing for it... actually they're still apologizing for it, so no, no more fighting. You told them, in that same tone you used in there," he said gesturing to the hotel across the road with his head, "that both sounded and looked like your mother by the way," he added pointedly, "if anything else was tried then you would never set foot in the house again and they relented." He ended as he took another spoonful and grimaced as he swallowed.

That was it for her. "Why are you eating it then?" she said as she tugged away the bowl.

"It's right there and very inviting, I can't help it."

"But you don't like it. If you don't like something don't bother with it-."

"No that doesn't always work-," he interrupted and stood up. "Come on let's go, I have to find a door." He gestured to the bowls on the table, "Take them with you."

"Why doesn't it always work?" she said as she followed him out.

"Well, if I followed that philosophy I would never have married you, would I? Now that would have been positively tragic because if I hadn't done that," he said lifting his son, "I would not have gotten the two most precious things I can ever own," he laughed at Sebastian giggling helplessly in his arms and turned to her. "Therefore would not be who I am. Do you see the problem?" he said with a questioning look.

Ginny smiled. "Totally, very tragic," she laughed.

***

For the second time that day Ginny found herself in her own store. Apparently the nearest place that sold doors was hers. They had spent half an hour just pointing and staring at various doors before finally settling on finding one.

"This is a big one, take this one!" Cadence said a little too loud.

"Cadence, keep your voice down." He took a look at the door she was pointing to. "And I am not buying a pink door."

Ginny laughed. "Why not, I think it's positively neutral."

"The day you buy a pink door for your office then, and only then, shall I think about considering it. Would you buy a pi-."

"Oh Merlin no," she said cutting him off.

"There you go, see?" They continued walking. She walked beside him with her head on his shoulder. "What about this one?" he said stopping.

Ginny raised her head from his shoulder and showed a disgusted look. "Draco, it's black. Big, black and totally masculine," she said as if it was obvious why he shouldn't buy it.

"Oh, then it's perfect." He turned to the front counter. "Excuse me!" he yelled and beckoned the girl behind it toward them.

"Draco," she said pulling down his hand. "You cannot buy a big, black, masculine door."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"What if you have a female customer that's come to complain about a male member of staff?"

"So?"

"Yes?" the sales assistant said. She put her wand behind her ear. And then looked to her employer and smiled. "Afternoon Mrs. Malfoy, is there something you'd like to order?"

Ginny let go of him and faced the girl looking at her name tag. "No, Laura, but I would like your opinion. Children," she said looking down. "Cover your ears." They nodded and did as they were told. "Can you hear me?" They shook their heads. She nodded. "Good." She turned back to the female assistant. "If you were being harassed by a male member of staff and wanted to complain to your employer about it, how would you be feeling?"

She looked down at the two children with their hands over their ears. "Pretty pissed," she relented.

Ginny smiled. "I thought so. Now, if you were to go your employer and he had a black, chauvinistic and sexist, big masculine-soaked door like this," she said gesturing to the door hanging on the fake frame, "how would it make you feel about him?"

Once again the woman looked down at the children. "Severely pissed."

Ginny turned to Draco. "Pissed enough to make it explode?" she said smiling and looking at her husband. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, pretty much," the girl shrugged.

Ginny inclined her head. "Thank you, you've been most helpful." The girl left to go back to the front desk. Ginny turned to her husband. "See the problem?" she smiled.

He sighed. "Well what door would you choose?"

She scrutinized them all with a keen eye. Eventually she gasped and practically ran to a solid oak door with the knots showing in the grain. "This one. It's perfect."

He looked at it and wondered why she would pick it. With all of her weird antics it must have some sort of importance. "And why, pray tell, is it so perfect?" He crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow readying himself for the, sure to be, strange but insightful reason.

"Look at the grain, how it's solid oak but it's light in some areas. The darker lines show a sturdy but protective layer amongst them, can you see it?" She looked at him as she ran her hand over the light and dark areas. "Like it's telling a story and reassuring you that it'll keep you safe." She bent down and smiled at Sebastian as he came to run a hand over it too. Cadence stood by her father and rolled her eyes. "Especially from caffeine deprived customers who want nothing more than to blow it up." She took her son's hand and pressed it against a knot in the wood running his finger along the lines of the grain to another one. Sebastian giggled as her hair fell over his head and tickled his ear. "You see how the knots link everything together?" Draco nodded. "You can use them to hold any number of charms and it will be spread to all the lines of the grain. This way, wards will be stronger in the office as a whole and not just the door." She finally stood up and faced him. "It's perfect," she concluded.

Draco stood in a mixture of silence, admiration and shock. "I can see why this place is so successful with insight like that. Is this how you sell the most mundane things here to muggles? I'm sure they'd buy it in a second. You never ever fail to surprise me, you know that?"

"Nah," she said waving a hand casually and linked it again with his as he walked toward the front desk, "give me a few years and you'll see."

He smiled as he walked with her to order the door. "You told me that eight years ago and I still can't see any end to it. I think there're a few more surprises in you I haven't seen."

"Really?" she said leaning on the desk. Laura looked up from writing the receipt and smiled.

"Definitely. You are a bottomless pit of surprises, Ginny. I for one just hope you don't run out of them too soon."

"Why not?"

"It's one of the main reasons I love you so much, every time a new one surfaces I fall in love with you all - over - again," he said kissing her soundly. He laughed at her sudden broad grin and the broad grin of every other woman by the desk. Once again Cadence and her father rolled their eyes.

***

Ginny threw herself down on the sofa in the living room soon accompanied by Cadence and Sebastian exhaling a heavy drawn out breath before collapsing in a fit of giggles.

"Oh, I'm knackered," Ginny said as she kicked off her shoes.

Cadence leaned on her as she crossed her legs. "Me too."

"Me three," Sebastian said lying down with his head on the arm of the chair.

When Draco came into the room he rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. A few hours of walking around and you're all tired? Please."

The three heads on the couch shot up and glared at the man before them. "A few hours?" they all said together. When he left the room shortly after they relaxed again on the chair.

"A few hours," Ginny repeated laughing. "We left at nine." She turned to the clock above the fireplace and laughed. "It's now seven thirty. Ten hours is hardly a few." A comfortable and tired silence followed. Ginny turned to Sebastian and found him peacefully sleeping with his feet on her lap, and then turned to cadence who had buried her head in her shoulder. She smiled to herself and let her head rest against the back of the chair and closed her eyes.

"Mum," Cadence said with her head on her mother's shoulder. Ginny jumped and raised her head.

"Mmm - yes?" she said suddenly wiping her face. It must have been the fire, it was lovely and warm and sleep inducing.

"Are you going to leave?"

"What?" she said suddenly very, very awake.

"On Saturday, you left without remembering I was here. Dad sent me by Grandma. I didn't want to go but he made me anyway. I don't want you to do that again, it frightened me."

The guilt Ginny had felt yesterday came back ten fold. "Sweetie, I'm sorry. Mum was having a really bad day. I didn't mean to upset you."

"What happened?"

"I er... I took a potion that made me forget who I was."

"Why did you do that?"

"I guess because I wanted to be someone else. Looking around me and seeing you and Astie and my life as it is now, I have no idea why I would want anything else. I never want to give this up."

Cadence shifted so she was kneeling and watching her mother. She wiped the tears from her face. "Not ever?"

Ginny followed suit and wiped her own. She shook her head. "Not ever," she repeated and welcomed the hug that came her way with a loud sob.

***

Ginny stepped outside in the spacious garden behind the house and wrapped the dressing robe around her tighter. She shivered involuntarily and watched the breaths of steam rolling out of her mouth as she thought about what to do.

"It's not going to work, you know. You don't have a choice."

Ginny spun around to face the voice she knew well. He was lying on a thick branch of a tree nearby. It came as a surprise as she hadn't seen him in a while. "What, no job today?" she joked.

He turned to her and sat up. "Well, I have been watching you. Among the others I have, you are definitely the most entertaining."

"Entertaining, huh? At least I'm good for something, right?" She shifted on the spot focusing on a patch of grass beneath her feet. "Erm, Janos, I wanted to ask you-."

"No." She jumped as he walked around her suddenly. She looked up at the tree, she hadn't heard him apparate.

She looked at him. "You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

He smirked and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes I do." He threw himself down on one of the chairs in the garden. He crossed his legs and stared at her. "You're going to ask the same thing the others ask. The same thing I warned you about and the same thing I told you not to ask for because you - already - know - the answer." He tilted his head. "Don't you? Or else you wouldn't feel so nervous asking it."

"Then why did you bring me here?" She gestured around her. "Why did you put me into this... this prison?"

"Oh so it's a prison again?"

"It's happiness. It's everything I ever wanted. But I can't have it, not really. Having this is heaven, having you take it away in two days time will be worse than my life ever was before."

"It's better to have loved and lost than-."

"The only people who say that have obviously never tried it, Janos." She sighed and joined him on a chair next to him. She wiped her face. "I don't want to go back," she said stiffly.

"And you don't have a choice," he said unaffected by her tone.

She glared at him and his impassive emotions to her. "I'm not going back."

He looked at her taking in her angry tone but stood his ground, this wasn't the first angry one he had come across. "And you don't have a choice," he said pointedly.

She stood up. "Yes I do."

He sighed and followed suit. "Yes," he said watching her face changed as he said it, "you did. Once." He continued to stare at her, even when she looked away sadly knowing exactly what he meant. "You blew it, remember?" Her head snapped to him and he saw the tears shimmering on her face.

"I hate you," she said before running back inside.

He nodded before settling back on the chair. "Stage three." He looked up at the sky and shook his head. This one was going to be hard.