A/N: Grr...I have been trying to upload this chapter for days! Oh well.
Chapter Four
When Hermione woke up the next morning and saw her face in the mirror she nearly had a heart attack. She knew she had been upset the night before, but not that upset. Her makeup was running down her face, and if it had not been for the fact that Asher usually slept until she woke him, she wouldn't have had the chance to wash it all off of her face.
Hermione took a nice long warm shower before quickly getting ready for work. She studied herself in the mirror unsurely. She had never considered herself gorgeous. She was tall, which made her stand out, but she wasn't unusually tall. It was her warm honey eyes and lengthy curly brown hair that made people mistake her for pretty. All in all, she had broad shoulders and an athletic body. Never pondering it much, Hermione just shrugged and quickly brushed her hair into a sloppy bun.
By ten Hermione had Asher dropped off at daycare, figuring that after the fight last night Ron wouldn't want to take him, and had safely made it to work, breakfast in hand.
"Hermione, thank god you're here. You're late you know?" Her boss, Greg Holms, said angrily yet he had a tint of relief in his voice.
"Yeah, sorry, I had to make a pit stop," she said handing him the untouched cup of coffee that had been in her hand. He looked at her unsurely and she gave him a quick nod with a smile, before walking to her office.
By lunch, she officially discovered she had no life. It had been a quiet day, no crimes committed that couldn't be fixed by a local cop, yet she hadn't had any calls from friends or family. It was different for her partner, Sam Brody, who had had about twenty calls from friends. Sam was attractive, even Hermione would admit it; he had a warm smile and great sense of humor. He was quite the people person.
Sam and she were good friends, spending most of their days together, due to their jobs. Sam… as embarrassing as it was for Hermione to say… probably saw Asher more than Ron did. Hermione usually brought him with her to work in the mornings until ten, when she dropped him off at daycare. Sam and Hermione usually didn't get many calls during the morning, which they couldn't pawn off, but if they did, Hermione could usually rely on Ginny or Ron to come and get him.
They were crime investigators, a career which wasn't a good one to have while raising a child basically on your own.
The day was oddly boring for them. For the first time in weeks they didn't have a case to work on, all they had to do was paperwork. Soon, it was time for Hermione to leave and pick Asher up from daycare.
'Perhaps I will take him to the park,' Hermione thought as she opened the doors to the daycare center.
"Ms. Granger!" the woman behind the counter said excitedly," What are you doing here? Asher was picked up hours ago."
Hermione panicked.
"What? Who? When?" Hermione was completely confused. Who had taken Asher… there was no one on the list who could pick him up besides her, or so she thought.
"Umm… he was picked up around lunch time, by an attractive young man," the woman said quickly.
"Wait… huh? Where is my son? He is supposed to be here! Did the man say his name?"
"Why of course. He was on the list, Hermione."
"No one but me is on that list!" Hermione put her hand to her forehead and began breathing deeply and quickly. She was flipping out.
"No… there is a… I can't remember his name. Hold on I will look it up. He had red hair, like your son's. He was gorgeous. Do you..?"
"Ron…" Hermione said quietly but loud enough so the woman could hear," you think he is gorgeous?"
Hermione hadn't noticed in a while… he was gorgeous. Ron was tall, 6'2, and he had a well toned body from quidditch.
"Yeah. He…" the woman's eyes went into a dreamy state as if she was fantasizing and she probably was.
"Could you uh stop with that?" Hermione asked getting annoyed at the constant mention of Ron's good looks and the look on that woman's face," And, I will see you later."
Hermione left the place quickly, and in a bad mood. How could he just come and take her son without telling her? Hermione made her way home, so she could apparate to his place and give him a piece of her mind.
The whole walk home, because Hermione had no need for a car, she just got angrier.
'He should have at least told me first. Or written a note or something. When I get a hold of him, I swear I am going to kill him.'
She got closer and closer with each step, and occasionally knocking into people who got in her way, she was on a war path, and it was not pretty. What would she even say to him? After what happened last night she didn't know if she could even talk to him with a straight face.
But as she approached her apartment building another thought occurred to her… he was spending time with their child. Hermione wasn't daft or one to be trifled with, she needed proof. She needed to make sure that he didn't just pawn Asher off on Ginny and Harry.
Ginny and Harry were in their own relationship. They had been married for about two years, and had a young child of their own. They had had a girl, and she was basically Asher's age, with a marvelous name. Lilian Joyce Potter. Lily for short. They had named her purposely after Harry's mom.
As soon as Hermione stepped into her apartment, she found a note on the table from Ron.
Dear Hermione,
I hope you realized the fact that you had taken Asher to daycare, would not stop me from taking him today. I did and still do wish to spend the day with him, and your little antic caused quite a few problems. I will bring him back tomorrow night. As you can tell, I have been in your apartment, so yes I do have his stuff. There is no need for you to come barging into my home, so you can search through things or take Asher. He is my son as much as he is yours.
I love him, and I do love you Hermione. We just have our differences, and it is blatenly obvious that we just aren't meant to be together anymore. I hope that we can still remain civil to one another, and continue our lives in an orderly fashion despite our fight and what has happened. We live in different worlds…literally.
Maybe we should just look for love elsewhere, with different people. I know this will be hard, it is hard for me, but I don't want to fight with you anymore. I love my job a lot. I love Asher, and I still love you, but this is just the way it is going to be. My job is time conuming as is yours. I won't give up my job, and I won't let you give up yours.
Best of luck and love,
Ronald B. Weasley.
P.S: I will send an owl by later so you can reply, so I know you got this letter. The owl will just have a copy of this letter. It will also have a portkey so if you would like to make sure Asher is in his full health or so you can respond orally you can.
Hermione glanced over the letter again. He was full of it, Hermione thought, and she just loved the fact that he made himself sound perfect. It also made her sick how he put his job in front of everything.
If he still loved me, he wouldn't want to see other people.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think.
