Sophie awoke with a start, her book on the floor. Something had disturbed her from her sleep. She paused, wide-awake. She heard the turning of a key and the door opening. She relaxed slightly knowing that it was only Severus returning.

"You gave me a fright, love." She said as he walked sombrely into the room, he looked somewhat dishevelled. "Is everything alright?"

He walked round to the sofa and sat down, his keys still in his hand. "Severus?"

"I've done something stupid."

That certainly wasn't what she was expecting.

"Sorry?"

"I've done something stupid." He repeated dejectedly.

"Oh?"

He looked up at her, "I'm sorry." He began to cry, "I'm so sorry."

Sophie was puzzled and afraid, this wasn't like her husband... this really wasn't like Severus at all. "Severus, what's wrong, what's happened?"

"I..."

He didn't need to say anymore, Sophie deciphered what he was trying to tell her. "Oh Severus. Why?"

"I don't know. It just happened."

"These things don't just happen, you must have wanted it to."

"I...I didn't...but I did."

Sophie stood up quietly and went up the stairs. She returned twenty-minutes later with a suitcase in each hand. "I'm going to my mothers, I need to think about this."

"Can I call you?"

Sophie shook her head sadly, "no. When I'm ready to talk I'll call you."

"Are you taking Tara?"

"No. I don't want to be the one to tell her that daddy went and had sex with another woman." Severus felt more ashamed than he had ever done in his life.

"Please don't leave me."

Sophie placed a hand on his cheek, "I love you Severus more than anything. What you've told me is hard... I don't know how to react; do I scream and shout at you? Do I throw you out of the house? Do I divorce you? I just don't know. Good bye." With that she walked calmly to the door and closed it gently behind her. Severus heard her car start and knew it was over. He had wanted her to scream and shout at him, not act calmly.

Sophie drove in silence, tears brimming in the corner of her eyes. How could Severus do such a thing? Maybe it was her fault. They hadn't been exactly very physical in the last few weeks; she'd been working hard and hadn't really felt like making love. Every time Severus had approached her about it he graciously accepted that she didn't feel like it. Maybe if she had been more receptive to his demands then he wouldn't have gone out and had sex with... with whomever!

She pulled up outside her mother's house and rang the doorbell, only just aware that it was past four in the morning. She didn't care; she just wanted to be in the house and safe. "All right, all right!" She heard an elderly woman grumble; "I'm coming." Her mother opened the door. "Oh, sweetie, what is it? What's happened?"

"I've left Severus."

* * *

Tara carefully climbed down the stairs into the living room, clutching her blanket. It was too quiet. Mummy and daddy weren't in their rooms. "Mummy?" She called, but received no answer. She continued to explore the house in the morning light. "Mummy?" She asked opening the kitchen door. There was no one where.

She crept into the study. She wasn't normally allowed in here, but she wanted her mummy. She looked round and saw her daddy fast asleep on the couch. "Daddy!" She called rushing over to him. "Wake up daddy!" She shook him.

"Ummm..." Severus grunted

"Wake up!"

"Tara, what do you want?" He asked groggily sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Mummy's gone."

Severus didn't say anything, taken back slightly. "She's... she's gone to visit grandma."

Tara looked disappointed, she loved visiting her grandma, she gave her sweets and made her cuddly animals. "Why didn't she take me?"

"Because she wanted to go on her own."

"Why? Doesn't mummy love me anymore?"

Severus' voice caught in his throat, he picked up Tara and placed her on his knee. "Mummy and daddy love you both very much, but sometimes they need to be on their own for a while."

"Why?"

"Well...sometimes....Sometimes they make mistakes."

"Did mummy make a mistake?"

"No...no, I did. I did something bad with another woman."

"Don't you love mummy anymore?"

"Yes, yes I love mummy very much, but I made a mistake."

"You're a BAD daddy!" Tara screamed, "you made mummy go away!" She started to cry.

"No, no..." She tried to wriggle free from his hold. "Tara, please..." The tears started to run down his face. "I didn't mean it...."

"You're a bad daddy, I hate you! I hate you!" She began to pound Severus until he let go.

"I didn't mean it..." He put his head in his hands, "I didn't mean it." All he could hear was Tara screaming that he was a bad daddy and that she hated him, somewhere deep inside him he knew this was true. Tara had every right to hate him, in one moment of selfishness he had driven away the woman he loved, and the mother of his child.

* * *

"There, there dear." Mrs McKenzie was saying to her daughter as she sat distraught in the kitchen, a cup of tea abandoned in front of her.

"I felt so low." Sophie choked, "how could he do something like that?"

"I'm sure it didn't mean anything to him, he came and told you what had happened. You mean the world to him."

"I don't think I could look at him again, or share a bed with him." "Now, I think you're being a little hasty."

"What if it wasn't just this once? What if every time he goes out on his own he goes with another woman?"

"It won't be like that, love."

"How do you know?"

Mrs McKenzie couldn't think of an answer here. "I don't think that Severus has ever slept with another woman before last night."

"He didn't sleep with her, he sleeps with me, he fucked her."

"Sophie!"

"You sleep with someone you care about, you spend the night with them. Severus didn't spend the night with this woman, all he probably did was fuck her in some sleazy motel and laugh about how his wife and child were at home."