Following what Hermione thought was the fight to end all fights, she had returned to her condo. Theo wasn't exactly thrilled with her decision, but he didn't argue when she'd insisted she needed to go.

She'd needed space—physical and mental—to work through her own feelings regarding what had just occurred.

She'd needed to be on her own, to think about what this meant for her relationship with both men, but move over, she just needed to be alone.

She stayed home the rest of the week, opting to telework from the comfort of her home office. Graciously, Crooks didn't seem to mind sharing the space, and soon found comfort in her lap as she sat in her pajamas while attending virtual meetings.

Theo texted her throughout the day, and called her one his way home. He asked about her day and wanted to know the most trivial details of her job. It was sweet, truly, but she knew he was just avoiding his own sorrow by trying to fill his day with her.

And as for Draco?

Well, she hadn't heard from him.

Not once.

Not that she was reaching out to him either. No, the ball was in his court, and she was waiting for the first contact. He was hurting, and hopefully processing his own feelings.

Though, by the time the week came to a close, and it had officially been four days since the fight, she was beginning to worry.

Not because she didn't trust him to take care of himself—god no—he was a grown man. He was absolutely fine in that regard. It was the silence that made her stomach churn with worry.

Maybe he'd changed his mind and didn't want her anymore.

Maybe he'd realized she was perfectly ordinary and figured he could do better.

Maybe his interest in her was only because of Theo.

Those thoughts, diabolically clever, plagued her mind nearly the entire day while in office. At any quiet moment, the doubt surrounding where she stood with the blond clouded her mind and ruined whatever distraction she'd just busied herself with.

She knew her thoughts weren't healthy—or remotely helpful. Which is precisely why she'd invited herself over to the Potter's for Monday night dinner.

Well, her, Theo, and Eli.

After another weekend apart, she promised Theo that after work on Monday they could spend time together. She knew that little devil sitting on her shoulder telling her she wasn't worthy of Draco's affections was not an excuse he was going to accept for a sudden change of plans.

So, Hermione did what she always found herself doing in times of trouble.

She went to the Potter's—now, of course, with Theo and Eli in tow.

Harry and Ginny never minded the extra company, and Teddy was more than happy to play with Eli while the adults sat on the back patio after dinner to discuss the latest events in her polyamorus relationship.

"He just left?" Harry's long legs extended in front of him, crossed at the ankle as he leaned back in a faded red adirondack chair. His hands were folded over his stomach, elbows pressed into the arms of the chair in a comfortable 'I-might-just-fall-asleep' lean (which, he had before… more than once).

"Yep." Theo was standing at the railing, back to the skyline, as he took a slow sip from the highball of Ranch Water Hermione had mixed up just moments earlier. His button down was halfway untucked, the rumpled tail hanging loose over his crisp trousers. His tie was long forgotten on the back of a dining table chair.

Although he was still dressed for work, Hermione couldn't help but admire the casualness of his current state of undress. It shouldn't have been charming, especially considering the topic at hand, but with the way the sunlight highlighted his hair, it was a wonder she was even paying attention.

"Wow." Harry nodded slowly, green eyes wide as he absorbed the story. Reaching up, he pushed his thick black frames up his nose, a hint of his inky tattoos peeking from beneath his sweater. "Has this happened before?"

"Him ghosting me after a bad row?" Theo's eyes rolled in time with his shoulders, the hand not curled around his glass rubbing against his forehead as if trying to remove tension. "Honestly? I wish I could say no, but this isn't the first time. We once went a month without speaking."

Hermione blinked; her brow slowly pulled down to a furrow as that little nugget of information settled in.

A month? A whole month? As in thirty days?

No. Theo had to be exaggerating. Shifting forward on the loveseat glider she and Ginny had commendered earlier, her elbows came to rest against her thighs, fingers curling around her beverage of choice for the evening: a paloma. "I'm sorry I think I misheard you. Did you actually say a month?"

"Give or take a day." Theo nodded, blinking as he took a sip before silently toasting to Harry, who swore under his breath. "We were very young, and… Well, frankly, looking back, it was all really daft, but at the time, I'm sure he felt it was warranted."

"And what, pray tell, was this egregious offense?" Ginny's eyes flicked up from her phone, providing the evening's first indication that she'd actually been paying attention to the conversation at hand and not lost in the land of Pinterest and home improvement ideas.

Theo tilted his face toward the fading sky, brow lowering just a smidge and he took another pull from his glass. "Uh… that time? I believe it was when I started applying for Uni and told him I had my heart set on coming to the US."

Well, it didn't seem unreasonable—maybe a tad dramatic, but Hermione could understand the hurt that Draco might have felt at the time. Had she been in a similar position at that age, she could only imagine her reaction.

Hell, who was she kidding? She would have been more than simply upset. Just thinking of Draco returning to London, over five thousand miles away, made her stomach churn. She wasn't ready to do long distance, or try to navigate the complexities of arranging dates via Skype when they would have an eight hour time difference.

And she certainly wasn't prepared to deal with the potential jealousy that might arise once Draco returned home because she would be able to spend time face-to-face with Theo while Draco could only be reached via the internet.

It was unfair.

To know that there was a time limit on the beginning of their relationship, and to know that Draco was wasting these precious moments left by being upset with Theo and vice versa…

Well, it didn't much matter because she didn't feel like she was in a position to voice her frustrations or fears.

While part of her was willing to take the leap into the relationship with both of them, the other part still worried that they'd wake up one day and realize she wasn't as amazing as they'd both seemed to assume.

The other part worried they'd finally see her faults, and give presence to that little voice inside her head that still said she was never going to be good enough for them. And because the end of their triad seemed ineffable, the fact that this was happening… Well, it almost seemed like the beginning of the end for something that had barely just begun. Like a flower's bud rotting before it'd even been given a chance to bloom.

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, teeth sinking into the supple skin as she let her eyes drift down to her drink. Idly watching the ice cube swirl around the glass, she gently tilted it from left to right.

"Mione?"

Hermione's eyes flicked up and over to Harry. Her breath stopped in her throat when she caught sight of the look in his eye—one she knew all too fucking well. Deep concern was etched in his beautiful emerald eyes, brow furrowed with a heaviness that made it clear he was already trying to formulate a plan to fix whatever he perceived as her problem.

Damn him.

Damn Harry for being so fucking nice.

Damn Theo for having a heart as big as the Pacific Ocean.

Damn Draco for his bigoted family and most of all…

Damn her emotions for getting the better of her.

"You alright?" Harry was already leaning forward, perched on the edge of his chair like some sort of cat ready to pounce.

Hermione nodded and hastily lifted her glass to take a large pull from her drink, letting the bitter burn of the tequila and grapefruit soda quell the unwanted and unreasonable rise of emotions inside her. "Yeah—just thinking."

A thick brow popped over the rims of Harry's glasses, and he didn't have to utter a single word for Hermione to know he didn't believe her. But she also knew Harry wouldn't push it—not right now, at the very least. Now was clearly not the time to pry.

She sat silently with a somber smile, hoping the gentle lift of her lips might ease Harry's concern, even if just for the moment, but before the effectiveness of her half-hearted attempt at placating her best friend could be gauged, her attention was pulled elsewhere.

"Holy shit!" Ginny's feet fell off the little side table she'd claimed to elevate her swollen extremities and hit the wooden deck with a loud thump.

"Jesus Christ, Ginn." Hermione nearly jumped off the cushion, head snapping to look at Ginny, who was frantically using her thumb and forefinger to zoom in on her phone screen. "Leave any air for the rest for the rest of us?"

"Holy shit…" Ginny paid no heed to her, instead frantically scrolling through the page with the occasional whispered curse.

Hermione glanced over to Harry and Theo, her shoulders lifting in a slight shrug. "Evidently Candy Crush turns you into a sailor."

Harry nodded. "You have no bloody idea. One night she woke me up because she was screaming about some sort of fizzy drink float robbing her of—"

"Oh, will you two shut it? This isn't about Candy Crush! It's about your bloody boyfriend."

Theo coughed into his drink, droplets of the tequila and mineral water splashed onto his cheeks, before he quickly set his drink down so he could cough into the crook of his arm.

"Draco? As in… Draco-Draco?" As in… her Draco? Or was he Theo's? She didn't really know the proper protocol in this situation yet.

"How many other fucking Dracos do you really think there are out there?" Ginny deadpanned, brown eyes lifting from her phone to look at Hermione.

"Uh…"

Theo cleared his throat, smoothing his wayward locks back across his head. "Actually, in the early two-thousands—"

"Really, Theo? That is what you want to focus on? Correcting my bloody off handed comment about your boyfriend's obscure name and not the fact that he has just been pictured walking into the British Embassy with—and I quote, what appears to be an excessive amount of luggage and his passport."

All at once, it hit her, like she'd fallen from a tree and landed flat on her back. All of the air in her lungs was gone, and though she possessed the ability to breathe, she simply forgot how.

Luggage… passport.

Luggage.

Passport.

Ginny's mouth continued to move, but Hermione couldn't process it as the two words reverberated in her mind over and over and over again like a broken record of her nightmare.

Draco was… leaving.

He was leaving without giving the three of them a fighting chance to figure out how to heal the hurt between Theo and him. But more painful… he was leaving without saying goodbye.

She watched helplessly as Ginny turned the phone toward her, and revealed a posh looking Draco in the Embassy. He was in a bespoke suit—light gray, the cut so perfect that had she seen it under any other circumstances, she might have paused to admire how utterly handsome her boyfriend was.

But now?

Now it felt like another checkbox ticked toward an inevitable conclusion. Memories of laying in Theo's bed between her men flooded back, the playful teasing transpiring between the pair—Theo ribbing Draco about traveling in three-piece suits. Memories of Draco explaining, in that adorably posh irritated tone, that yes, joggers would be much more comfortable, but strict business attire was mandated in case of paparazzi.

Hermione looked away from the phone, her heart thumping so hard against her ribs she was certain Teddy and Eli could march to its beat upstairs; she found Theo equally as flummoxed. His skin was ashen, his eyes wide with what Hermione could only assume was shock—or perhaps fear?

Around them, she could distantly hear Ginny and Harry, though not a word could be deciphered. It was almost as if her and Theo were having an entire conversation through eye contact alone—a steady stream of questions passing between their wide-eyed stares.

Why would he leave?

Why wouldn't he tell them?

Was he coming back?

What did this mean for her and Draco?

What did this mean for Theo and him?

What did this mean for the three of them?

"What do I do?" She was so lost in her spaghetti string thought that she hadn't even realized she'd vocalized the question until she felt a throw pillow hit her side, startling her back into the moment.

Much to her surprise, it was the baritone of her best friend. "Get your arse down there!" Harry shook his head, hands upturned, as if what needed to be done was painfully obvious.

Could they just go down there? It wasn't like she'd spent a lot of time at the British Embassy, or any Embassy for that matter, though it did sound awfully important and bureaucratic.

Similar to the DMV. Appointments only. Have all your paperwork. Don't waste peoples' time.

Surely showing up to try and stop your kind-of boyfriend—who also happens to be somewhat of a national treasure for the red coats—likely wasn't exactly high on their priority list.

"We can't just go down there." Hermione shook her head, fingers twisting together. "Right?"

"What? Why not?" Ginny tilted her head to the side, strands of pin straight red hair drifting from her topknot to lay across her cheek.

"Uh… don't you need an appointment?"

"Oh, Jesus Christ. For someone who watches romantic comedies, you sure don't seem to understand grand romantic gestures." Harry's fingers slipped beneath his glasses and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"This isn't a fucking movie, Harry! I can't just show up and—"

"Can you drive?" Theo abandoned his glass on the railing behind him, hands already patting his front pockets in search of his keys. His eyes were glassy, giving way to the gears turning within his mind, formulating a plan that Hermione was not yet privy to.

Hermione gulped, looked between her friends, then back up at Theo who was already moving for the slider. "I'm not drunk—if that's what you're asking." Part of her kind of wished she was though.

"Okay, good." He pulled open the slider, but paused at the entrance, his hand curled tightly around the handle. "Would you mind watch—"

"Yes, yes. We'll watch Eli, just go stop your idiot boyfriend before he makes a huge mistake." Ginny waved him off before she dropped her hand to rub a small circle over her swollen belly. "But I expect some benefits from this. If you are both shagging a Royal, I should at least get something out of it."

As much as Hermione wanted to question why her friendship wasn't enough, she knew the little quip would have to wait for later.

"Thank you, Ginn." Hermione rushed to her feet and hurried after Theo, who was already halfway through the house, making a beeline for the door.

She wasn't entirely sure how this was going to work—or if it even would, but she did know one thing.

They had to at least try.

Author's Note:

/gasp

oh no. the grand romantic gesture set up. so cliche. so rom-com. /throws confetti

also; I ended up putting the last two chapters together, so one left folks. It's written, and with the fabulous dreamsofdramione!

I can't wait to show you how this ends. /rubs hands

until next time. xx

find me on facebook under msmerlin eff & tumblr under ms-merlinblack

an aside: I started a discord server for nano, so if you want to come hang out, shoot the shit, write, or even cheerlead, let me know! all are welcome