Ginny lay back on her bed, staring at the ceiling tiles that she had memorized in the fragments of time she had spent awake over the past several days. She could feel the storms of emotion that had been raging through her calming and dying, leaving her feeling both weightless and grounded. It was as if she had sunk roots deep into the earth even as she was bent and swayed by the wind.

She chuckled at the fanciful thought, and for the first time in much too long, her laughter wasn't followed by a twinge of pain as she wondered what Draco would think. Miraculously, she could tell him and find out, and all it cost was a near-death experience, her unborn child, and a significant dose of crippling emotional pain. Shaking her head over the bitter turn her thoughts were taking, she rubbed a hand over her eyes and tried to sit up.

"Doctor says you might go home soon. Could be tomorrow if that spell your friend with the nappy hair came up with works." Neeko's voice made Ginny jump with surprise, nearly dislodging her IV in the process. Beaded braids clacking, Neeko laughed, then laughed harder as she caught the pillow that Ginny threw at her. "Sure are ornery today, aren't you?"

"I'd show you how much if I didn't have all this rigmarole attached," Ginny said as she wiggled the needle back into place and adjusted the bandage around it.

Neeko sat down next to Ginny's bed and looked at her shrewdly. "You given any thought to where you're going to go?"

Without a thought of hesitation, Ginny said wryly, "Whither he goest." At Neeko's raised eyebrow, she shrugged and continued. "It'd be more sensible to wait, to get to know each other again, to sort things out and give Harry a chance to adjust and all that other rot, but I've waited long enough."

"Life's too short for wasting it," Neeko said. "So as long as you're sure..."

"I am." Ginny's lips twisted into a half-grimace. "Of course, it depends in part on what he says."

Neeko snorted and swatted at Ginny's leg. "Child, that man would follow you into fire, let alone out of the hospital. So you just make sure you're back here for Thanksgiving and I'll go get him for you now."

"Thank you. For everything." Ginny swallowed hard, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I owe you so much--"

"You saved my baby's life, honey. Ain't nothing you owe me that wasn't paid and paid again by that." Neeko squeezed Ginny's hand, then stood up. Just before she walked out of the door, she said, "Of course, you could tell Hermione to get her nappy head into my beauty shop so's I can fix up that hair of hers. If you still think you owe me something."

Ginny laughed, then brought her hand up to see whatever it was that Neeko had placed in it. Her locket, familiar as her own skin, winked up at her. Carefully, she ran her finger along the seam and pried it open, curious to know, after all these years, what was inside it. The picture of herself, looking like a drowned rat as she emerged from the lake at Hogwarts only to drip on Malfoy, as she thought of him then, made her laugh again. That'd been the first week back in his sixth year, when he'd finally stopped sulking about the Bat-Bogey hex she'd had to use on him before the summer holidays.

"That was when I first realized just how much you meant," Draco said from where he had been leaning against the door, watching her stare at the picture with a smile lighting up her tear-damp face. "The first time I conjured a patronus, it was with that memory."

Ginny smiled weakly. "Just as well I didn't know this was there. I'd have opened it just to see the picture."

"Hmm, and think of all the trauma you would have averted," Draco said lazily, sitting on the side of her bed and tweaking her hair. "Fixed it up for Potter, did you?"

Arching an eyebrow, she pushed her hair back from her face. "Harry did it. Why, do you like it better this way?"

"The color suits you better," he said neutrally. "But the so-called style makes you vaguely resemble a sheepdog, and your ends could use some attention."

"Tell me, then, since you're so clever and all, how would you like to see my hair?" Ginny's teasing grin and flashing eyes faltered as they met his smoldering ones.

"Spread across my pillow. Forming a curtain around us as you writhe on top of me. Sifting through my fingers as you lay against my bare chest." He shrugged, his hand hovering just above her cheek. "Any of those sound good to me."

She wanted to close her eyes and concentrate on the warmth of his hand cradling her face, but she couldn't rip her gaze away from him. "You... You really mean that, don't you? Even though I was with Harry for so long?"

Draco stiffened and turned to look grimly out of the window. "Yes, well, you're not now, so let's just strive to erase the Boy Who Wouldn't Die from our memories, shall we?"

"And that's exactly why I couldn't go to you," Ginny said wistfully, one hand covering her abdomen, and trying not to cry at how flat it was.

His head whipped back around to her and she flinched at the look in his eyes. "Listen carefully, Weasel, this isn't something I want to repeat."

"I loathe Potter, and I hate that you were with him, but you could fuck your way across two continents and I would still want you. Yes, I want for your children to be mine, but I would have loved this child regardless, because it would have been yours." Ginny looked at him dumbly as he raked a hand through his hair before glaring at her. "Don't you understand? When it comes to you, I have no pride, no reason, no dignity, nothing at all that matters except for you, your smile and your sarcasm and your damn idiocy that makes me want to shake you until you finally see sense, and then kiss you until you lose it again."

After a moment of silence in which he glared at her with all the vitriol he had reserved for the golden trio in school, his lips quirked and he said, "Of course, it's not like it'd take much. You never did have the sense God gave a goose."

"Arse," muttered Ginny. "You'd best be grateful I love you so much, or I wouldn't find it endearing."

He dodged the slap she aimed at his shoulder and instead grasped her wrist and brought her hand to his face. "I'd ask if you're sure, but I'm not giving you a chance to change your mind."

Ginny's eyes softened and she caressed him gently, pushing a lock of hair behind his ear and smiling. "Draco..." Hiding her momentary grin by pressing her lips to his, she then pulled her face into a grimace and shook a finger at him. "Pay attention, because I'm not going to repeat myself. You're a tremendous prat, and always have been, and if you weren't, I wouldn't be half so deeply in love with you. Which I am. Completely and totally. For years and years, which just make me stupider for not having grabbed on with both hands long ago."

His lips were being pressed closed by her finger now, and he opened his mouth to take a nibble. "Stop that. I'm trying to shout at you, here." He looked at her with wide, too-innocent eyes and she grinned. "Oh, sod that. Come here and kiss me."

He obeyed, his lips soft and gentle on hers. This lasted for about three seconds before things started becoming frantic, Draco's shirt tugged completely off his body, Ginny's head thrown back as he bit the skin at the base of her neck, then soothed the spot with his tongue. She thought she might faint from the bliss of his hand traveling up her leg, the heavy coldness of his signet ring an exciting contrast to the heat and gentleness of his fingers.

Just as Ginny had managed to undo his belt and he had latched onto one of her nipples through the thin cotton hospital gown, the door was thrown open and a sharp gasp drew their attention to an extremely shocked nurse. Draco pulled the blanket up over Ginny, then rolled off the bed to gather his discarded shirt. The nurse's eyes wouldn't leave his chest, and Ginny was torn between a blush and a scowl, finally settling on, "Did you need something?"

Draco became the recipient of Ginny's wrathful stare as he barely stifled a chuckle, first at Ginny's tone, then at the way the nurse stammered something about checking on a sudden spike in blood pressure. As soon as the door had closed behind the woman, Ginny buried her face in her hands and groaned.

"Cheer up, love, you might only have to deal with her for another day," Draco said, his eyes dancing.

This somehow failed to comfort Ginny, and Draco sat down beside her once more, trailing his hand up and down her body despite her repeated attempts to slap him away. "Come on, Ginny, tell me what you want. Should I have her killed? Obliviated? Sacked?"

Ginny sighed and brought her laughing face out from where it'd been hidden. "Shut up, Malfoy, and start planning where we're going to honeymoon." He leaned in to capture her lips again and she placed a hand on each of his cheeks and looked him deeply in the eyes. "I love you, Draco Malfoy. I want to spend my life with you, have your children, and make you laugh at least once a day."

He crushed her to him, burying his nose in her hair as they held each other tightly. "I love you, too, Ginny Weasley, and all of that can definitely be arranged."

(Author's Note: Ta DA! Yep, story's done. There's going to be an epilogue, at some point, but I managed to get it finished for Annibug's birthday, and so I'm fairly happy about that. :D Hopefully y'all are satisfied; this story's the first time I've really gone for an angst-driven plotline, and I've wibbled about whether it's any good since day one... When it was supposed to be a one-shot Harry and Ginny story, with no Draco in it at all. Yeah, it did kinda grow a bit. Rivendell, I meant to email or mention in the last author's note, I'm in Hinesville. :) I worked in downtown Savannah for a while, and my mom lives in Southside. I figured I'd write what I knew. LadyRhiyana, thanks for reviewing, as it gives me a nifty little fangirlish ego-boost, since I like and admire your deft touch for drama. Wizzabee, I took liberties with Ginny's eye color in order to boost the point that Harry's never noticed her, especially since in the books it's from Harry's POV and thus if it says in the books that her eyes are brown, that's what Harry thinks. TotS (and anyone else who felt similarly), I apologize for the unanticipatedly in-love-with-Ron!Harry, but it was the way the story wanted to be written; I either dropped the story for good or cooperated. And, quite frankly, I was afraid Annibug (and possibly Rainpuddle) would come after me with sharp implements if I abandoned the story. Kirixchi would start to, but then I could write up some Lucius/Narcissa smut and she'd get distracted. ;)

So, well, hopefully I can be forgiven for all the cliffhangers, which upon reflection were probably a bit more evil than strictly necessary, and that you enjoyed this foray I took into the world of angst. I'm still not sure how good I am at it, but all in all I enjoyed the writing. If you feel like I left an end loose that you'd like fixed, let me know and I'll see what I can do about tying it in the epilogue.

--Sharlene)