A/N: Thank you so much for reading my fic. I am posting this a few days earlier to give myself extra time to work on the next few chapters.

Trigger warning: Some mild violence, reader discretion is advised.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

June 2013

The buffet meal for the large crowd was a hit. Everyone loaded their plates full of the tasty food and found places to sit around the yard in various folding chairs, picnic tables, and blankets laid in the grass. Emilia and Draco chose to keep their tradition and ate in her truck bed. She groaned as she patted her extended stomach.

"Too much good food." She lamented, leaning back on her elbows.

Draco nodded, finishing another rib of brisket.

"This is amazing. I'm going to gain half a stone with the food you eat here."

She snorted, poking his arm.

"I highly doubt that. You are quite fit from what I've seen."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Have you been looking?"

Emilia's eyes widened, rendered speechless. Draco set his plate aside and wiped his hands clean on a napkin. He shifted forward to slide off the back of the truck, turned to face her, and held out his hands.

"Emilia, I think we need to talk."

She felt a sharp jolt of anxiety as she sat up and reached out for his hands.

"Alright..."

Instead of grabbing her hands his fingers wrapped around her waist and pull her down onto her feet. He left his hands where they were, the skin burning beneath the fabric of her shirt. His gaze was sharp and inquisitive.

"You said you missed me too the other day."

Oh.

Oh.

"I-Well, I did." She sputtered, caught off guard.

"You have not berated me about flirting with you." He pointed out.

"I...I guess I don't mind so much. It's part of who you are." Emilia reasoned.

"You have been holding my hands quite a bit as well."

This made her cheeks redden.

"Yes...I have, haven't I..." She admitted.

He watched her quietly for a full minute and she silently wondered where this was going.

"Emilia, what do you want?" Draco asked.

She knew exactly what he meant. It was the same conversation from before, only now...

"Draco...I already told you how I feel. I don't want to ruin our friendship. I like that we are good friends. I don't want to get involved and watch you walk away or try to figure out a long distance thing. It...it would be so complicated and probably end in disaster."

Draco chuckled as if what she said was actually amusing, which she did not think it was.

"You have always spent so much time here," Draco tapped her left temple, "instead of here."

His hand slid down the side of her cheek, grazing her neck and décolleté before resting between her breasts where her heart thrummed.

He had to feel how rapidly it was beating against his touch. Her breathing became shallower as she searched his brilliant eyes that she swore had turned to liquid silver.

"Stop thinking and let me worry about the logistics. Tell me, what do you feel that you want?" Draco breathed.

His other hand slid around her waist, his fingers there splayed to cover her lower back so deliciously close to the top curve of her bottom.

Her eyes betrayed her and involuntarily flickered down to his lips then back up.

Damnit.

His mouth drew near, barely hovering over hers.

"Please, tell me what you want, Emilia." Draco's voice was raspy, pleading.

She bit her bottom lip, contemplating her sanity at ignoring her logical senses.

"Us. I would really like to try being...us. Together." She admitted faintly before she could regret it.

Draco's sigh tickled against her lips.

"Then we will."

His lips pressed firmly against hers and her eyelids drifted closed.

How?

How dare she go on for as long as she had, spending as much time as she had with this man, and deny herself the utter reckoning she experienced by kissing him.

Draco's hand at her back pulled her up closer, lifting her onto her tiptoes. He pressed her soft curves firmly into his broad frame. His hand on her chest traced a surprisingly delicate trail back up, burying his fingers into her hair at the nape of her neck. His lips were teasing, moving over hers but never putting more pressure on her than she was willing to return. He let her guide their pace and she was more than content with this closed mouth sweetness because it was the feel of his entire body against hers that sent electric currents scattering across her skin.

She couldn't touch enough of him. Her hands wandered aimlessly up his chest and over his shoulders before her fingers found purchase in his platinum strands at the back of his head.

The pull sensation flared to life, as if it were actually alive. It raced like molten pleasure through her veins, exploding in ecstacy at her nerve ends that made her feel light headed and heated. She swore she could feel it reaching out to touch him, taste him, as if satiating itself on this contact with him. A similar sensation seemed to be brushing back against her, as if he had his own tugging sensation that was stroking against the length of her body. It vibrated and hummed in her ears like before, a victorious sort of beat.

"Emilia, we should head back to your house." Draco gasped at last against her lips, breaking the spell he had cast over her enough to bring her some semblance of thought.

Emilia drifted back into awareness and sighed sadly. He was right, they should stop for now before things got carried away. Her heels lowered back down, allowing their height difference to naturally pull their lips apart. Her sparkling golden brown eyes searched his quicksilver ones for any sign of remorse or disappointment. She would have been crushed if she had seen a hint of either but she had to know.

All Emilia found was desire reined in tightly and something deeper she didn't have a word to describe. Her eyes had to close again because if she kept looking at his, she might actually pass out. The pull sensation became aggressive when they parted, trying to physically force her body back into his as it used to do.

"I promised Mona we would help with cleaning up." Emilia suddenly remembered, frustrated at her damn Midwest niceness.

Draco's fingers at her nape rubbed gentle, soothing circles against her scalp. God, she could practically purr at the feeling.

"Well, then we should go get a head start so we can be done sooner...Emilia," his fingers stopped their movement which made her eyes open to stare hazily into his darkened grey ones, "before anything else we need to talk...but not here. We should wait until we get back to your house."

She nodded, fervently. They definitely needed to talk but there were too many people milling about. She was tempted to lean up and steal one more kiss but she knew they would never move if she did. Reluctantly she stepped back, reaching for his hand that found hers easily.

"Let's go then." She said wistfully, turning to walk toward Mona's house, her fingers gripped tight in his.

A few hours later Emilia was contemplating how to hold Draco's hand while driving on this gravel road that had horrible, truck eating ruts. After narrowly missing a particularly aggressive one she contented herself with the fact he was here with her. The soft hum of the pull swirled through her abdomen and made her smile as she drove toward her house.

The kiss they shared still tingled on her lips. When they returned to Mona's house she had thrown herself into cleaning as did Draco. The two of them had the kitchen halfway spotless by the time Kaila and Mona appeared. It made for quick work with all four of them doing chores. Emilia gave her short goodbyes to her friends, Mona's eyebrows rose knowingly, and she practically sprinted to her truck with Draco jogging to catch up.

Her cell phone rang out, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Oh, Draco, can you pull out my phone? It's in my glove box." Emilia indicated to the handle in front of his seat in the dash.

Draco pulled the little latch up which made the compartment door flip down. He leaned over and retrieved her phone. She noticed he was not giving it to her, reading the name on the screen for several seconds.

"Draco, I need to answer it before it goes to voicemail." She reminded him, grabbing the phone from his hand.

Her eyebrows raised when she read who was calling.

"Oh, it's Dr. Chang." She said in surprise. Why on earth was Dr. Chang calling her on a Saturday?

Emilia swiped the bar to answer the call, placing the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Emilia Grainer?"

"This is."

"Emilia, this is Dr. Chang, how are you?"

Emilia rearranged her phone onto her shoulder, trying to drive safely with both hands on the bumpy gravel road.

"Hi Dr. Chang, I'm good, thank you. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Emilia questioned curiously.

"Well, Emilia, I'm sorry to disrupt your Saturday but I have some...interesting news. Do you have a few minutes to speak with me?"

Emilia's eyebrows raised.

"I do..."

Dr. Chang cleared her throat.

"I have received some new information in regards to your medication. There have been some new developments in a recent study. The study has linked some very serious negative side effects to prolonged exposure to some of the medicine's components. I'm calling Emilia because after reviewing the study material I'm afraid you are going to have to discontinue taking it."

Emilia slammed on the breaks in the middle of the gravel road. Draco swore and threw his hands out onto the dashboard to steady himself but she couldn't pay him any attention. Her chest was squeezing tightly and she needed to park before she had a panic attack.

"Wait, what?" She shrieked, her hands shaking hard as she threw the gear into place.

"Emilia, I know this sounds scary but please stay calm and breathe. We will figure out a solution but first things first we need to discuss weaning you off the medicine. It will take time...and Emilia, to be honest, it may be very debilitating. You remember what happened the last time you missed a few doses and you had the stress induced seizure episode?"

She did. It was two years ago at a three day convention in Las Vegas. Emilia had forgotten her medication but thought a few days without taking it wouldn't be the end of the world.

From what she could remember she was fine during the day. She attended lectures, socialized with colleagues, and enjoyed a meal with friends from New York. However, that night when she went to bed had been frightful. She had vivid, overwhelming dreams unlike anything she had experienced before.

She dreamed she was facing a bespectacled boy with shaggy black hair. He was yelling hoarsely at her to run in an unfamiliar forest. Behind them there were dirty, leering men chasing them, taunting them, and shooting some type of bullets that sparked different colors. It felt so real that she woke up more worn out than she had been when she went to bed. The ebony murkiness of her mind seemed to siphon away most of the details of the dream to her disappointment.

The second day she took a quick break in her room because she had to sit down. She probably fell asleep from being so exhausted. She knew she was dreaming as she had the night before. She was being attacked by a giant snake with the same boy in a rickety old house. She threw herself in front of him, trying desperately to protect him, with a stick that shot out different colored lights like her last dream. However, the abominable reptile was agile and quick to move around the lights. It was absolutely terrifying to be hunted down by the biggest snake she had ever laid eyes on.

The snake had cornered them, poised to strike when her dream ended. A new dream began immediately after. She was in a large, dark building. There was a small group of children with her and they all carried sticks like hers. They were fighting adults in black cloaks and silver masks. One of the black cloaked figures flourished their stick toward her and hit her with some sort of purple fire in her stomach. She swore she could actually feel the agonizing pain as the heat raced through her entire nerve system like a wildfire. It was the most stressful set of dreams she had ever had in all her life.

She had woken up with a start, focusing long enough to sit up before her mind was slammed with an overflow of sounds and colors. It wouldn't stop as it hammered against her brain viciously. Panicked, she fought hard to make herself stagger to her hotel room door, propping it open with the trash can.

Emilia felt her legs begin to falter beneath her. She kept lucid long enough to scream for help before she collapsed, the seizure taking hold, and all she knew was the inky void. Luckily, an elderly couple next door had heard her and made room service call 911. She had not missed a dose since.

"I hate to say this Emilia but...it is my professional opinion that you need to take a leave of absence from work and have someone monitor you twenty four seven while you detox the medication." Dr. Chang explained gently.

Out. She needed out. She yanked at her truck door handle.

"Emilia, what are you-"

She slammed the door shut on Draco's question. She would apologize in a minute.

"Dr. Chang, wait, wait, hold on, slow down. This is a lot to digest. I have a practice. I-I have clients and-and I have staff and potential partners depending on me. I can't just...just drop everything." She was sobbing, pacing the length of her truck while clutching her hair with her free hand, trying to gasp for air.

"Perhaps we can figure something out with your work schedule that is the least restrictive but also not so stressful. Right now my main concern is that you cannot detox alone and you have to start reducing the dose as soon as possible." Dr. Chang's attempt to placate her failed miserably.

"I-I have friends I am sure they would be more than happy to stay with me." Emilia offered, thinking of how it would have been convenient to have received this call even a few hours earlier at Mona's.

"Actually, I have already spoken to someone who is willing to stay with you full time while you wean off your medication. I was contacted by your friend Draco Malfoy. You are friends with him, correct?"

Emilia froze. It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head, dosing her entire body in a chill even as the summer heat pulsed around her. It stole her breath and froze her heart in her chest. She turned slowly to face the truck and her eyes lifted to the passenger seat.

Draco hadn't gotten out of the truck to check on her...

He knew exactly who she was talking to...

And he knew he would be staying until next month...

Hurt and betrayal swirled around in her. She knew he could see it in her eyes because he looked at her in a way she refused to acknowledge. Good, let him see her bawling.

"Emilia? Are you there?" Dr. Chang's concerned voice snapped her out of her trance.

"Yes, Dr. Chang, I am acquainted with Mr. Malfoy." Her tone was flat and she made sure to say it loud enough that he could hear even in the closed cab. He winced.

"Excellent. Then you must know he is currently on holiday here in the States. He happens to work in the medical field as well. His particular niche is pharmaceutical research. Actually, his work is the basis for several properties in your medication. Truly brilliant. Well, Mr. Malfoy contacted me as a professional deeply concerned about your medication and the potential negative side effects you may be experiencing." Dr. Chang rattled on.

Emilia snorted. Of course he did.

"It turns out it has been rejected from being taken long term due to those life threatening dangers the new research discovered. We hypothesized that your medicine is actually causing some of your symptoms now like the seizures."

Emilia stopped pacing for a moment, absorbing this new information. That was very concerning to hear. Dr. Chang continued.

"Mr. Malfoy has offered to stay with you while you wean off the medication. I promise he is more than capable of taking care of you and as you can imagine his knowledge will be quite useful. Even so, we really need to schedule a follow up appointment in my clinic. I need you to come to New York City as soon as you are able to safely travel with Mr. Malfoy." Dr. Chang finished her long winded explanation.

Emilia couldn't understand what Dr. Chang was saying. What the fuck was happening? Draco was staying with her? In her house? While she detoxed? Did she even have a choice?

She shook her head, desperate all of the sudden to get off the phone.

"I see. Well, I have some phone calls and arrangements to make Dr. Chang. Perhaps we can follow up with a phone call on Monday once I make said arrangements?" Emilia tried to keep her professional sounding voice but it cracked from her tears.

"Of course. Emilia, I should mention Mr. Malfoy wanted to tell you right away. I told him as your primary care specialist I should be the one to tell you and explain what the temporary care plan is going to be. He was quite upset and demanded I tell you as soon as possible. I compromised by saying I would call today instead of on Monday."

Emilia's throat tightened.

"Thank you, Dr. Chang. I will be in touch soon. Mkay bye."

She hung up and let the phone dangle at her side for an eternity even though it was at most only a minute. She swung toward her truck door and ripped it open, glaring daggers at the pale face across from her.

"Get out." She gritted, immediately slamming her door shut.

She marched to the back of the truck and leaned against it with her arms crossed, waiting.

Eventually she heard the passenger door open and close more softly than hers had. Draco walked slowly to stand in front of her a good foot away, his hands in his jean pockets and his eyes downcast. He had the gaul to look up at her sadly.

"Emilia I-"

She held her hand up for silence and he closed his mouth. She was trembling with so much fury.

"You used your professional credentials to call my physician to talk about my personal health? What is wrong with you? I should sue you and Dr. Chang for breach of patient privacy rights!"

Draco frowned deeply.

"I initially contacted her to confirm she was your doctor. When she did I warned her that if the medication was made with chemicals that I suspect it is that there could be unintended consequences to your health. She wasn't aware and I recommended that you should stop taking it immediately. That medication was not intended to be taken daily for years, Emilia."

Emilia saw red as her irrational anger boiled over explosively. She pushed his chest.

"You kissed me! You-you knew what you did and what was going to happen! Oh, but go ahead and take advantage of the situation and kiss me right before you conveniently have to take care of me full time in my house! Was that the plan, Draco? Get Emilia to swoon for you then rush in and-"

It was cruel and the wrong thing to say. Draco crowded her against the back of her pickup, overtaking her shorter stature. She thought in that moment how it was too bad she didn't have the tailgate down because she really needed to get away from the burning his presence was causing. The pull inside her was a blistering heat, an internal kiln. It was not a pleasant warmth as the earlier one and almost as painful as the raw hurt in Draco's eyes.

"You really think so little of me? After everything you have seen so far do you honestly think I wanted this, Emilia?"

His hands reached for her and she flinched, expecting him to grip hard, to handle her roughly. Instead, his touch was light. His hands ran soothingly up and down her arms even though his voice was dripping with venom.

"Dr. Chang refused to answer almost all of my questions except those pertaining to an emergency plan to keep you safe as I'm not listed as your next of kin. She specifically said she couldn't answer most of them without your permission and she wouldn't anyway unless she met with you in person."

Emilia breathed a small sigh of relief. Well, that was something. Draco didn't notice and continued.

"The monitoring was at Dr. Chang's insistence. I only wanted to visit you everyday to check on you. Dr. Chang told me about the last time you missed your doses and how lucky you were to have been found so quickly. To be honest I would prefer to stay with you for that reason alone but I know you like your privacy. I emphasized that to Dr. Chang but she made a valid point that you live alone in the middle of nowhere. If you had a seizure and hit your head you could bleed out before anyone found you and called for help."

Emilia winced at that. Reluctantly, she had to acknowledge the sound logic Dr. Chang presented.

"I know your home is very important to you and I don't want to take that comfort from you, especially now. I only want to help Emilia. I can be there almost every hour of the day for as long as I am needed. I'm intimately familiar with most of the chemicals in your medication and I know how to help you if you have a negative reaction to the side effects. I swear I had no idea we would kiss today. I simply wanted to enjoy the day with you before you got the phone call because I knew it would anger you."

Emilia took a deep, shaky breath. Of course she knew Draco better than that. Hadn't he already shown he was willing to accept their relationship as nothing more than friends if she wanted? Still...

"Did you talk to Dr. Chang about my job, Draco?"

Draco was silent for too long. Emilia's eyes flashed up at him.

"What did you say?" She growled.

"I was honest. I told her you work overtime most days and do not take many days off, if any. Kaila mentioned to me that since I arrived it is the first time in all the time she has known you, Emilia, that you have left at five regularly."

"You talked to my assistant behind my back?" Emilia asked, incredulous.

Draco hesitated before he nodded grimly.

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't want to rouse your suspicion so I went to see her this week when you were out on an on call visit. I did not tell her anything. I only asked about your work schedule and work habits since she started to work for you."

Emilia shook her head, her eyes displaying so many emotions, mostly anger.

"That is too far, Draco. You said you would tell me everything when you had your answers. You went behind my back and I-I can't. "

Emilia felt as vulnerable as she had when Serendipity had been hurt. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer and dropped her gaze to her square toe boots.

"Why is it...that since you walked into my clinic, my entire world has been turned completely upside down? Nothing has been the same. You keep telling me over and over how you want to tell me everything but then you don't. Not about my past, my medication, now this. I'm at my breaking point with it all and this...is too far. I don't think I can do this right now." Her voice kept breaking, the tears threatening to start anew.

This was a disaster. How could her day go from one of the best to one of the worst in less than an hour? The idea of not having her medication that she had thought kept the seizures at bay...being practically bed ridden for weeks or perhaps longer...

Emilia shoved past Draco and moved to the driver's side of her truck.

"Emilia, please-" Draco pleaded, reaching for her hand.

She spun around, holding her hands up to keep him from approaching her.

"Draco, don't...just...get in the truck. I'll drop you off at the inn and...and I guess we will figure out the logistics of getting you and your things to my house later."

She opened the door and slid in, hoping she could drive safely even as her world crumbled around her.