Chapter 2

"I want James… where is he?" Lily screamed in agony. "Where is James?"

"Frank, where is he?" Alice Longbottom hissed at her husband.

"He's on a mission, Sirius is trying to get hold of him," said Frank gently to Lily. But she was still in so much pain, he wasn't sure if she could hear him.

Lily had just been admitted to St Mungo's after the Death Eater attack. She had had the Cruciatious Curse placed on her so many times she was suffering aftershocks and the healers didn't know how long it would last. So for now she was in constant agony and none of the pain relieving potions were working. She had been asking for James for over an hour.

By the time James arrived four hours later, the pain had stopped and Lily was curled up on the bed shaking and crying.

"Lily… James is here," Alice said softly, patting her head.

"James… James isn't here… he's never here anymore… always away…" sobbed Lily. She hadn't even heard James come in the room.

"Lily…" said James, heartbroken by her words. She was right, he knew hadn't been around much since they got married. He kneeled down so he was at eye level with her. "Lily, can you hear me?"

Lily squinted at him, as if she was having trouble seeing him.

"I… I'm not deaf," she finally said. Her voice was still shaky from the aftershocks.

"You lot can go home, I'll look after her now," James said to Sirius, Alice and Frank.

"Why are you here? Who told you to come here?" said Lily. Her sobbing had stopped; somehow just seeing James had calmed her. She wasn't afraid anymore.

"Lily, you were screaming for him," said Alice. "We thought you wanted to see him."

"Right… sorry," said Lily, her voice still wavering. "I'm okay now."

"We'll come and check on you later," said Sirius, who knew all about Lily and James' problems.

Alice, Frank and Sirius shuffled out of the room. James dragged a nearby chair to Lily's bedside, he reached out and stroked her cheek.

"What happened?" he asked, concern evident on his face.

"D…Death Eater attack," she said weakly.

"Where? What happened? Did you recognize any voices or anything?" asked James, suddenly switching from being the concerned husband to being an Auror.

"I'll file a report tomorrow when I feel better," sighed Lily.

"Right… you should do it as soon as possible though. It gives us the best chance of catching the guys that did this," said James, gently squeezing her hand.

"I said I'll do it," said Lily wearily.

"Okay."

"As you can see I'm alive, you can go back to work now," said Lily. She tried to turn away from him, but it was too painful.

"I'm not going back to work, not for another week. I'm here to look after you… after what happened…" said James, hurt that she would think he would just go back to work minutes after arriving.

"Oh lucky me, a whole week with my husband," Lily said spitefully

"Lily please, don't start," sighed James.

"Fine. But I'm tired, I'm going to sleep," said Lily. She wasn't strong enough to argue with him again.

"Okay," said James, getting up and turning the light off.

Lily expected him to leave the room and go home, but he took off his shoes and climbed into bed with her, spooning her against him.

"What are you doing?" she whispered into the dark.

"I'm staying here with you."

"Why?"

"To make sure you're alright, I haven't seen you in almost 2 months. I want to be with you. I'm worried about you," said James. How could she think that he wasn't worried, that he didn't want to keep her close after what had happened?

"I'm fine."

"I love you, you know," said James.

"I know."

"Do you still even love me anymore? The way you're acting right now is scaring me, you're really scaring me Lily. I know we're having some problems but…do you still love me?" said James quietly, as he clung onto her.

"Of course I still love you."

"We're going to get through this, right? You're not going to divorce me, are you?" James found it so much easier to ask her in the dark, it meant he didn't have to see the hesitation on her face.

"Not if I can help it."

"Okay, then. You need to rest," said James, kissing the top of her head.