Written for Amber's Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge (Write 2 canon fics - 1/2)

Woes

"Take her, Ron. Just take her. I can't do it anymore. I give up!" Hermione thrust their one-year-old sobbing daughter into Ron's arms a little more roughly than she intended, and stormed from the bathroom. A moment later, Ron heard the slamming of their bedroom door – a sign she didn't want to be disturbed. When he looked down at little Rose in his arms, she was watching the door her mother had just left, silent.

He sighed. "You're never really that good for her, are you?" she said absently, and she smiled up at him. "Why don't you ever do as she asks?"

Rose only giggled, clapping her hands together. Ron sighed again.

"Alright, come on," he said, looking down at the bath Hermione had run, but hadn't been able to get Rose into. Her screams had been so loud and painful that even Ron had been forced to come and see what was wrong. That was when he'd found his wife trying to get their daughter into the water, but Rose had been surprisingly strong and refused. When Ron tried, though, she didn't so much as blink, but splashed the water with delight.

Smiling fondly, he shook his head. "You're going to be so much trouble, Rosie," he said. "I can see it."

Rose's only response was to splash her legs in the water and laugh.

…

"Is she sleeping?"

"You know she won't sleep until we both say goodnight to her."

Ron found Hermione in the living room, picking up Rose's toys by hand – a sign that she was upset or angry. She didn't even look at Ron as she spoke, but continued to put everything in their correct places without taking too much care as to whether she might be breaking them or not.

"I'm sure she'll sleep perfectly fine," Hermione said darkly – definitely a sign that she was upset and not angry.

Ron hesitated a moment, but then decided to join her in cleaning up. If she really did break one of Rose's toys, she'd never forgive herself. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Do I look okay?"

"What happened?"

Throwing the last of Rose's things into a wooden box, she stood up and looked at him. She'd been crying, obviously, but he didn't think comforting her was the best choice right now. It'd probably make her angry with him, too.

"What am I doing wrong?" she wanted to know.

Ron frowned. "Doing wrong?"

"How come everyone can look after my daughter except for me? I picked her up from your mother's today after work, and she told me she'd been perfect. But when I took her home and tried to play with her, all she wanted to do was throw her toys and run away. Then you get home and she's perfectly happy to sit there for an hour and play with you." She wiped away a fresh wave of tears. "She's fourteen months old, and I still don't know my daughter. Then you or Harry, or Merlin forbid, even Percy comes along and she wants to be their best friend. She hates me, and I don't know why."

Ron wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that sounded, but knew that would be the wrong thing to do. Instead, he led her to the couch, instructing that she sit down. "You know what I just had to do?" he said when they'd sat in silence for a few moments. "I had to take away her favourite toy to sleep with because she kept throwing it out of her cot, laughing to herself because she thought it was funny. It's eight o'clock, and she should be sound asleep, but she can't go to sleep because you haven't said goodnight to her yet."

Hermione appeared not to have heard him. "I thought I could do this whole mothering thing, but it's terrifying," she confessed. "I thought it would be easier than this… that I would just know what to do the moment she was born. But I don't, and there's no manual that tells me how to look after Rose specifically." She looked at Ron, smiling slightly. "You, though… you didn't even want a baby to begin with. I had to really talk you around and now… now she adores you and you adore her and she would be perfectly happy if it was just you and her for the rest of her life."

This time Ron did laugh. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"It's the truth."

"It's not, Hermione. She had a bad day. She's had plenty of bad days before. She didn't sleep last night, remember?"

Hermione didn't say anything, but nodded shortly. They both remembered last night, where they were constantly up and down, trying to get their daughter to sleep. She was barely one, but was being very stubborn about everything in the past week. It seemed those 'terrible twos' everyone talked about had hit them early.

"Is everything okay?" Ron questioned again, placing an arm across her shoulders.

"She just really tested me today, that's all. Especially when she started throwing her toys and laughing. I just… I wanted you home sooner than you were so I didn't have to deal with it anymore. Does that make me a terrible person?"

"No, it makes you human, probably," Ron said. "And, as I just told you, she was throwing toys a moment ago and I took it away from her. That's why you can hear her crying out right now." He fell silent, and from up the stairs they could hear a faint whining to let them know Rose still wasn't asleep.

"And here I was thinking that it'd be nice to have another baby."

"Ron!"

"Don't worry, she was enough for one day. Imagine two Rose's in the house. It'd be a nightmare."

Hermione was thoughtful for a moment, and then she nodded. "You know what, I had similar thoughts," she confessed. "But… I need to learn to be a good mother to Rose first. I need to learn how to look after her and work and do everything and still keep a level head."

"I'm here, remember," Ron reminded her. "And you're a brilliant mother, and I'm constantly amazed at how much you manage to do in one day. I've seen the workload you get in that office of yours, and yet you still manage to come home at a decent hour every day. You still have time to play with Rosie, and you're hardly ever stressed about it. I get half the work you do and feel like my head's going to explode."

"My head did, today… and my temper," Hermione said sadly.

"She won't remember."

"But I will. I feel terrible, Ron. I should never have said 'I give up'."

"When did you say that?"

"When I almost threw Rose to you and left the bathroom. I was so angry with her, and I shouldn't have been. I'd just had enough and I snapped."

Ron shrugged. "She was being difficult," he said. "I heard her. And, as I said, she was still throwing toys when I put her to bed. She just had a bad day, that's all."

They were silent again, and from upstairs, it finally sounded like Rose had stopped.

"I should go and say goodnight," Hermione said after a moment. "And remind her that I love her… no matter what."

Ron smiled, nodding. "Come back down here afterwards," he told her. "I feel like we haven't seen each other properly in three days."

He waited for at least half an hour for her to come back, but when she didn't, he realised she must have gone to bed instead. Switching off the lights in the living room, he made for the stairs and their bedroom; but the bed was still made when he entered.

And then he heard soft whispers coming from Rose's bedroom. The light was on, and Hermione was sitting in an armchair by her cot, Rose – wide awake – in her lap. They were looking at a book together.

"She wouldn't sleep," Hermione said when she saw Ron approach the door. "So I thought we'd read some stories together. A late night every once in a while can't hurt us."

When Rose saw her father standing in the doorway, she smiled, waving to him. There was no indication that in the past two nights she'd gotten very little sleep.

The book Hermione was reading to Rose was a Muggle one – one they'd both read more than once. Rose's hands moved over the pictures, pointing to parts on the page. After a moment, her hand stopped, pointing to one image in particular.

"Dog," she said.

"That's right, sweetie," Hermione said, beaming. "Dog."

Rose giggled. "Dog," she said again, jabbing her finger into the page. "Dog!"

"Well, you taught her two things tonight," Ron said, moving from the doorway to stand in Rose's room. "You taught her not to make you angry, and her first word."

They watched as Rose started flipping through the pages of the book, laughing at something that was only funny to her. Even in the dimly lit room there was no denying the pride on Hermione's face. She'd been trying to get Rose to speak for a few months now, but their daughter had been stubborn.

"Okay, sweetie," Hermione said after a moment, taking the book away. "It's definitely bed time now. You've been awake for far too long. Grandma Weasley said you didn't sleep at her house, either." She placed Rose into the cot, laying her down. As she had done with the bath, Rose fought against her, wriggling and whining to be let out. "Go to sleep, darling," she continued. "Goodnight." It was obviously a struggle for her to remain calm.

They stood back for a moment, watching and waiting. When Ron switched off the light Rose got to her feet.

"Go to sleep," Hermione continued. "We'll be right here, okay?"

Rose gave her no heed.

"How is she not tired?" Hermione wanted to know, returning to Rose's cot and laying her down again. "She has barely slept in two days."

"Let her wear herself out," Ron suggested. "She will eventually."

Rose was on her feet as soon as Hermione let her go, and Hermione sighed. "I'll stay with her until she goes to sleep," she said.

"She'll be fine," Ron said, taking her hand. "Let her put herself to sleep. This isn't the first time she's refused to sleep in fourteen months. She'll go eventually."

Hermione was reluctant, the guilt of earlier eating away at her. But after a moment, she let Ron lead her from the room.

"You know," Ron said after a moment, when they were making their way down the stairs, "Where did dog come from? It's not like we have one or anything, or use the word every day."

Hermione smiled. "From the stories, I suppose," she said.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have another baby?"

"Ron, not right now," Hermione answered. "Maybe in a few years."

Ron shrugged. "Maybe a little brother or sister will settle her down," he said.

"Or make her ten times worse. You don't want her throwing a sibling around, do you?"

Ron grinned, noting Hermione's thoughtful expression. She was thinking – planning to see if it was possible.

"Anyway," she continued after a moment, "With Rose I practically had to beg you, and now you're wanting a baby?"

Ron gave another shrug. "You're not disagreeing too hard, are you?" he teased.

Hermione smiled. "Maybe soon," she said. "Maybe a year."

Ron nodded. He could live with that.

I actually am for once happy with how this Romione turned out. I think I exhausted all my ideas with them and have been in a flunk. But here's something I don't mind.

I hope you liked, too!