AN: Hi, everybody! I haven't gotten any new reviews lately, but at this point I really don't care. This next chapter is really short so I'm posting the following chapter tonight as well.
Severus Snape sat in his classroom staring at the cracks in the ceiling. She had returned. He would have to face her sooner or later. He would have to apologize for leaving her. He would have to help her. Where the hell have you been, Relena? What have I done to you? There was a knock at the door. Why am I always interrupted when I'm thinking? Who is it now? It's probably Granger looking for a way to earn some extra credit.
"Come in," he said coldly. He heard the door creak open, and shut again. "What do you want?" he asked rubbing the corners of his eyes.
"Well, if your going to act like that, I'll just go find Remus. If I have to get abused at least I can at least get abused by the cuter one of you two, babe." Severus nearly fell out of his chair when he heard her voice. She still sounded younger than him, but there was a tired drawl to her words now.
"Relena?" he whispered.
"Well what other friend do you have? Although after what you called me last night I'm not really sure that I want to be that anymore," she sighed, "You can be such a bastard when your feelings are hurt." she teased as she walked over to stand in front of him. She looked beautiful. She always had, but she was never for him was she. She was always in love with Remus. Damn that werewolf for hurting her. Damn me for letting her get hurt. I should have been the one who was there for her after James died not Remus. Maybe I could have spared her some pain if it had been I who she had –
"Uh. Uh. Ah," she interrupted his thoughts, "Same old Severus always confused. There is nothing you could have done to help me. Well, except you could have stayed with me like you promised, but that's all in the past right. Well I've got some questions to ask you. May I sit down?"
"Of course," he motioned to a chair, "but only under the condition that you answer some of mine first." She sat down, and propped her feet on his desk. Surely, a habit that she had acquired from either the Australian or the vampire, thought Severus.
"So," she sounded nervous, "how are things with you? Any girls I should worry about stealing my babe from me?" she asked as she lifted her eyebrows accusingly. He hated it when she called him babe; they had used that name countless times over the years to upset both James and Sirius. There was a period of about a year where they had James totally convinced that they were about to elope at any second.
"Well, actually, I have been seeing this one girl, Anne, you should meet her sometime. I think you two would get along really well." He smiled at the shocked look on her face. He had told the truth. She and Anne really were the same. Anne had given him the same look when he had asked her out on their first date. It had gone horrendously, but by the end of the night they were totally in love with each other, though neither was very excited to admit it.
"Well I'll be! That's wonderful Severus. So now that I'm back, assuming we work through all of our unresolved issues, can I be the best woman? I think I'd look really sexy in a tux." She growled. Severus was taken aback. How could she have known? He had only bought the ring about a month ago, and was not even planning on asking Anne until the school year was over.
"Hmm," Severus considered, "yes, I think you would look dead sexy in a tux."
"Oh, Severus, you animal, you!" Her tone was mocking, which could only mean one thing she was upset about something. Severus turned so that he looked her strait in the eyes. He hadn't looked at her like that in a long time, not since she was 20 years old. Not since James had died.
"What do you want to know, Relena? I know you better than you know yourself, and there is obviously something troubling you." Relena looked at him with a guilty stare for a minute. He could see the wheels in her head turning there were hundreds of questions she wanted to ask him, but which one to ask first.
"Why did you leave me Severus? What did I do?" Severus could see the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Before he realized what he was doing he had gotten up and flung his arms around his adopted little sister, and all the walls she had built up over the years came tumbling down.
"It's all right! Everything's going to be fine!" he insisted as she cried into his robes. He could feel all the pain she had felt through out the years. Ever since he had left her he had blamed himself for having not been there for her when James died, but in that moment he realized that he shouldn't feel sorry for having not been there for her then, but instead for having not been there for her later.
"Oh, Relena, I'm so sorry," he cried into her hair, "I never meant to abandon you. I was just scared, so very, very scared. I was a coward. I should have come to find you as soon as I knew what had happened with the Hunters and that stupid character Robert. Relena," he said pushing her away from him, "I never meant to leave you, and I promise that whatever you do from here on in I won't leave you alone no matter what!"
"Oh, Severus!" Relena cried throwing her arms around him again. In the back of his mind Severus wondered what would happen if Remus walked in at that moment, but he really didn't care. So they just sat there on the dungeon floor, until she had cried out all of the pain and was ready to tell him what happened to her during their years apart.