Part 1 - Friday

We've always found peace at the sea. Her a bit more than me, for it's her happy place. It was last minute when we decided to go on this trip. We rented a little house by the ocean for the weekend. We needed time to ourselves and a little bit of privacy.

We left Friday evening and took a car, she wanted to take the muggle way. I kissed her forehead and we started off. We drove in silence for the most of the way, her at the wheel, lost in our own thoughts. We stopped at a burger place right at the edge of town. We ordered one burger, one order of chicken nuggets, and two fries, because they're hard to share. We were sitting at the picnic tables side by side, enjoying each other's company and the food when a little nose popped up. I looked underneath and saw it belonged to a small puppy. When I sat back up, Rose was already on the other side feeding him some chicken nuggets. She had a small smile on her face as the puppy ate out of her hand.

"He doesn't have a on collar on." She told me.

"How do you know it's a boy?" I asked.

"He just looks like one, but let's see." She gently picked him up and cradled him in her arms. "Yup, boy." She smirks at me, loving the fact that she was right because most of the time she is.

I went to go sit next to her and scratched his little tummy. I put my arm around them and gently said, "you know even though he doesn't have a collar we should see if he belongs to anyone."

She nodded her head and quietly said, "okay." She got up, the puppy still in her arms and waited for me while I threw out our trash.

We walked together back into the restaurant and asked the owner if he knew the dog.

"Nope." he said. "He's new around here, I've just started seeing him the past couple of days. So I've been feeding him some scraps. I'm sure he's a stray, but probably not for long with the way they're looking at each other."

I turned around and saw the puppy squirming in Rose's arms trying to kiss her. She's got this giant smile on her face while trying to keep him in her arms. I turned back around to ask the owner, "where's the nearest vet?"

0o0o0o0o0o0

I drove the rest of the way to the cottage. Rose sitting next to me with the puppy in her lap.

"The vet will open tomorrow morning at 8AM. What time do you think we should go?" She asked me, while playing with his ears.

"I'm not sure, probably earlier than later, don't you think?"

"What do you think about Sonny?"

I pulled into the packing space for the cottage. I turned off the car and took a look at 'Sonny'. He looked at me with his mismatched eyes and yipped. "Sonny is perfect, love. Go see if he has to pee or something and I'll start unloading the car." She smiled at me and gave me a kiss.

Once we were settled, we sat in the living room in front of the fire. Rose and I sat on the floor, totally entranced by the puppy but it wasn't too long until I saw him yawn. Rose picked him up and carried him into the bedroom. She buried him in the blankets, while I got ready for bed. I could hear her laughing while I did my nightly routine. I thought about how it's been a while since I've heard her laugh, I've missed hearing it. I stood in the doorway, watching her tuck in Sonny. I walked over to them and put my arms around Rose's waist.

"I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't fall off the bed," I teased lightly. She smiled at me and kissed my cheek before heading to the bathroom. I looked down and saw Sonny staring at me with his big eyes.

"Hey puppy," I said. I crawled in bed beside him and scratched the top of his head. He yawned again and his eyes fluttered shut. Rose came out of the bathroom, climbed into bed and gave him a kiss on his head. She reached over him to hold my hand and I raised it to give her a soft kiss.

"I love you." She whispered to me.

"I love you too." I told her.

Part 2 - Saturday

We woke up early to Sonny barking. I volunteered to talk him out. Rose thanked me and said she'd make breakfast. Twenty minutes later, I walked back into the house with the smell of bacon in the air. I walked to the coffee maker, Sonny at my heels. We ate by the window, feeding small pieces of bacon and eggs to Sonny.

The rest of the morning went passed by quickly. The vet appointment went well. The doctor just gave him a general check up and gave us the information we needed to give to our vet back home. At the pet store we walked through the aisles buying supplies for Sonny and then for us. Around noon we stopped at a sandwich place for lunch. We sat outside on the patio, Sonny at our feet again eating some of scraps. He was already getting spoiled and we knew we shouldn't cave, but he was too cute to resist. After lunch we went back to the house and set up his crate, bed, and dog bowls. Rose said she wanted to go for a run. I kissed her bye and decided to start teaching Sonny his name.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I could tell he was smart but he was also easily distracted. I would call his name and only half the time he would call his name and only half the time he would look at me. I gave up after ten minutes, getting frustrated and feeling the need for a break. This is what it'd be like with a kid, I thought. As soon as I thought that I got sad. I picked up Sonny and took him out on the beach.

I sat down in the sand and let Sonny run around. I just watched him sniff the sand and run around in circles. I thought about Rose and I, and how tense we've been the past couple of weeks. It seems as though all we could do is yell at each other.

When we found out Rose was pregnant we were so excited. We always talked about having a family. We both wanted a big one; her because she was basically raised with her extended family and I always wanted a sibling when I was younger. We started to look at baby clothes and toys. We even cleared a space in our room for the baby. Rose followed every pregnancy rule as soon as she found out. She didn't drink or have caffeinated coffee, she switched to tea. She worked out and got good exercise, but never overworked herself. We were so excited. But two weeks ago we found out that we lost the baby. We were both so devastated, but it took a bigger toll on Rose.

Right before we left the healer's, Rose reached for my hand and whispered, "I'm so sorry Scorpius."

"It's not your fault, Rose." I stroked her hand soothingly. She just nodded and led the way out. The rest of the day is kind of a blur. I just went to work and did all the actions in a fog. I brought food home for dinner, so Rose and I wouldn't have to cook; I knew neither of us had the energy. When I walked into our apartment I found Rose curled up on the couch staring at a teddy bear. It broke my heart. I placed the food on our kitchen table and walked over to the couch. I took the bear and placed him on the coffee table, then pulled Rose into my lap. We just sat on the couch holding each other.

That was about two months ago. Since then things have been tense, our fights have been about nothing and the sadness hasn't gone away. I could tell Rose wasn't looking forward to this weekend. It was a Weasley weekend at her Grandmother Molly's house. We were going to tell everyone about the baby, but now there wasn't an announcement. Just thinking about it broke our hearts even more, so I suggested going away for the weekend just the two of us. It took a couple of days to decided but she agreed. I owled her mom and grandmother, letting them know we would be missing their even but promising to visit soon and then booked our vacation. Once I did, I saw some of the stress leave Rose's shoulders. And since we found Sonny yesterday, there's been a bit more happiness in the air. He's like a little ball of happiness with sunniness and a whole lot of energy, which is what I think we needed.

Sonny brought me out of my thoughts when he started running down the beach. I jumped up to catch him when I saw Rose in the distance. I called her name and pointed at the dog. She scooped him up in her arms and he kissed her face. I bent out my hands on my knees and out of breath. Rose came up to me and rubbed my back. I gave her a thumbs up.

"Didn't think I was this out of shape, maybe I'll start working out again." I told her once I caught my breath.

She laughed and said, "you're always welcome to come running with me."

"Maybe I will but you'll have to run slow so I can keep up."

"I can do that," She laughed again, took my hand and we walked up to the house.

"I thought we could go out to eat tonight. I saw a restaurant in town that looked really good. Wanna go?"

"Sure, what will we do with Sonny though?"

"I figured we could keep him in the kitchen with his bed and toys."

"Yeah sounds good to me, shall we leave around six?"

"Yeah, that's perfect."

0o0o0o0o0o0

Two hours later, I saw gave Sonny his dinner while waiting for Rose. "How do I look?"

I looked up and Rose is standing in the doorway looking as stunning as ever. She was wearing her favorite red dress with matching blue sandals. I must have been staring at her for a while because she started laughing and said, "so I look good then."

I just nodded, walked up to her and kissed her. "You look beautiful."

She lowered her gaze and smiled. She was blushing and I love that I could still make her do that. I held out my arm, "shall we?"

She took my arm, we said bye to Sonny and we headed to the restaurant.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Rose ordered the pasta and I had the chicken. The weather was perfect, there was a nice breeze and the sun wasn't in our eyes so we were outside sitting on the restaurant's patio. We talked about Sonny and work, really just small talk but I enjoyed the peacefulness between us.

"Hey Scorp."

"Mmm." I responded taking another bite of my chicken. Instead of responding she started moving her food around her plate, which she only does when she's nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think they're mad at us?"

I looked at her surprised; she spoke in just a whisper and was carefully staring at her plate. I put down my fork and reached to take her hand. "No, of course not. Your mom understood and promised she wouldn't say anything. And I bet their talking right now about how much we're missing out on whatever they're doing. Which they'll probably always tease us about it. But no one's mad at us, I promise. They just miss us."

She tightened her grip on my hand a little bit. "Hey, besides if they are mad, they gotta deal with me and we both know that's not something anyone wants to do." She laughed at that, undoubtedly thinking about the times when people want to challenge me. I get very passionate and loud. I stroked the back of her hand with my thumb and took another bite of my chicken.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She squeezed my hand and started to eat her pasta again.

For desert I ordered a piece of chocolate cake for us to share, which is also Rose's favorite. And the rest of the night we reminisce about the crazy adventures we got into with her cousins when we were younger. We walked back to the house hand in hand and spent the night playing with Sonny and drinking tea.

We retired around midnight. I was so tired, that once I brushed my teeth I crawled into bed. Rose laughed at me when she saw me crawling. I stuck my tongue out at her and she just laughed harder. For some reason she had more energy than I did and did her whole nightly routine. So I yelled, "hurry up, Sonny and I are lonely!"

Her laugh drifted from the bathroom to the bedroom and soon enough she came to join us. I opened my arms for her to snuggle with me. She smiled and settled in, her head was resting on my chest and her arm draped across my stomach while she was playing with the hem of my shirt. I kissed her forehead and held her close.

Part 3 - Sunday

We slept in and stayed in bed until Sonny barked at us, telling us it was time to get up. I told Rose to stay in bed while I took the dog out, also saying I'd cook breakfast too. She smiled appreciatively at me and rolled over to go back to sleep. She has never been a morning person.

I took Sonny for a short walk down the beach, picking up sea glass and shells. I thought Teddy's son, Remus might like them. I put them on the counter to show Rose when she got up. I got all the ingredients out to make waffles. I made a ton of waffles - some were for the ride home, fore I think you can never go wrong with waffles. I cut up fruit too and even made whipped cream. I was setting the table when Rose came into the kitchen.

"Babe! I made waffles!" I told her proudly.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and smiled. I brought her a cup of coffee, with some milk and sugar. "Have you fed Sonny?"

"Uh, yes right now." I rushed over to Sonny's bowl and put some kibble in. I could hear her chuckling at me while I ran around the room getting last minute things - well more like skating around in my socks. It's one of my favorite things to do as a kid.

As soon as I sat down, Rose set a cup of coffee in front of me. I took a sip and it was perfect, "What do you wanna do today?"

"A beach day sounds nice."

I smiled at her, "a beach day it is."

0o0o0o0o0o0

I made sure to coat myself in sunscreen not wanting to get burned, which I easily do - a quality I inherited from my mother. It was super nice to just relax and enjoy the sun. Rose brought out her book and we just enjoyed sitting outside with Sonny.

I taught Sonny fetch and around noon we ate a picnic lunch. I was feeding him some watermelon when Rose spoke. "If it was a girl, I wanted to name her Astoria."

I looked at her and waited to she if she was going to continue.

"I hoped she would've had your eyes but my hair or maybe just looked like your mom. She would've been so beautiful and strong and smart. She was going to be the same age as Lily's baby and they would've been best friends."

I just reached over and rubbed my thumb on the back of her hand. She took a deep breathe and continued, "I didn't want to tell you about wanting to name her Astoria. I wanted to surprise you. I even had that moment all planned out. I was going to tease you and keep suggesting names before deciding. Then once she was born and in our arms, I was going to say 'Astoria'. I had it all planned out and now it won't ever happen."

She started sobbing and I just held on to her, stroking her hair. "She definitely would've had your eye babe and my moms hair. She would've been as smart as you and your mom, with as much mischief in her blood as George does. She and Lily's baby would be best friends and go on insane crazy adventures at Hogwarts. Then they wouldn't tell us half the stories until they moved out because they knew they wouldn't get in trouble by then. She would've fell in love and grown old, having lived an amazing life. And her name would've been Astoria Jean."

She hugged me tighter and I kissed the top of her head. "And we would love her with all our hearts, no matter what. Just like we do now."

0o0o0o0o0o0

The rest of the afternoon was quiet. I showered and started to pack the car, Rose took a long bath. We needed the time alone, but still being close to one another. Rose doesn't open up easily, ever since I met her and still now even though we're married. But I always let her know she can come to me whenever and for whatever. I'm really glad she talked with me this afternoon. I knew she was hurting but didn't know how much.

I heard the tub start to drain and packed up our dinner. I decided we'd stop along another part of the beach on our way back. We could look at the stars and stretch our legs. She came out with her bag in hand and Sonny at her feet. I smiled loving at her, walked over to give her a kiss and take her bag.

"I'll finish packing the car and then we can head out."

She nodded, "can you drive?"

"Of course, love." She kissed me softly, then took Sonny with her to the beach. I watched her stroll towards the water and stopping right at the shore. I knew going back home would be stressful, but at least I knew her mom had our back and wouldn't let anyone owl us right as we got home.

Fifteen minutes later we were in the car. Me in the driver's seat, her in the passenger seat with Sonny happily sitting in her lap. I put on the radio and drove. I sang along to the songs and made up the lyrics when I didn't know them. Rose smiled and hummed along, petting Sonny.

I spoke softly, "I know we haven't talked about it and maybe it's too soon, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm willing to try again. When we're ready, of course. We don't have to talk about it now or even later this week and you don't even have to say anything. I just wanted to let you know."

Rose smiled and I could see the love in her eyes. I took her hand and kissed it.

"I love you so much," she told me while squeezing my hand.

"I love you so much too." I didn't need her to say anything else, I knew she would bring it up when she was ready and then we would talk about it. I just held her hand and drove us home.