A/N: So, here I go, getting ready to post my queer-o author's notes before my chapters. First off, I must take this moment to thank my great new beta cheese riot for helping me with this chapter. You rule, girl! Also, I will go ahead and tell all on y'all this is it! The chapter you've all been waiting for. Enjoy.

Ginny, Gris, and I (with Baker doing little more than getting in the way) had moved most of the things to Ginny's flat before it started getting really late. Gris went off to class, and I put Baker to bed. I told Ginny I was going back to her house to pick up the last few things that had been left behind, and she told me she supposed she'd head on to bed too.

When I got back, the house seemed to be dead quiet. I tiptoed to Fred and George's room where Ginny had said she had left some of her things in the closet. I swung open the door and walked in quietly.

As a shadow met my eye, I threw myself back against the wall. "Oh, you scared me!" I said, putting my hand to my rapidly beating heart.

"You scared me too," Ron admitted, half-smiling. "I wasn't aware that anyone was coming back tonight."

"What are you doing here, Ron?"

He showed me the Pensieve he'd been holding in his hand. "Same thing you were."

"Did you--"

"Couldn't help myself."

"It always has been fascinating, hasn't it?"

"Honestly, I had blocked the whole thing completely out of my memory."

"Hard to do." I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. "You went back."

He sighed. "Yeah. Bloody hell, we were stupid."

I nodded. "I was stupid."

"Hermione," he said quickly, "I'm sorry."

I twisted the skin on my finger. "For what?"

"Ruining our friendship. Being such an immature prat."

"You didn't ruin anything. You said it yourself. I kissed you back."

Ron stared at his hands. "I didn't necessarily say I was sorry for the kiss. I'm sorry for saying I'd never speak to you again. I'm sorry for being mad that you had picked Harry over me."

"I didn't pick Harry over you. And we were only- what? Sixteen?"

"I'm sorry about earlier too. You know, this afternoon."

"Oh, that was- nothing."

"Yeah. Well, I figure while I'm apologizing I better get everything out—you know?"

"Well, good job. I think you got it," I said, hoping he'd take the hint and leave.

"Yeah right. I haven't even got a good start."

"Ron--"

"I'm sorry- for Diagon Alley."

I gave a mirthless laugh. "You? As if I didn't bring that on myself."

"I was so stupid," he continued. "All I could think was that this was exactly what I wanted- to be with Hermione. And the closer I got...I dunno. I guess, the closer I got, the more I wanted."

I looked up at the ceiling, my face flushing. "I was supposed to be so smart and independent. A Hogwarts head girl, best marks of our class. This brilliant, perfect little girl. But, I couldn't even stop to think. All I knew was that what I had was perfect. Had to be. I belonged there- with that person. And when I woke up, he was gone. He doesn't want to be with me. He left me. Why would he leave me? Why would you leave me?!"

Ron shook his head as if to bat away all the thoughts attacking him at once. "Hermione, what can I say? What do you want me to say?"

"The truth," I muttered, barely audible.

"The truth," he repeated. "I hate the truth." He stood up and sat back down, seeming to be thinking carefully about what the truth was. Just when I'd given up that he was going to say anything at all, he began talking. "When I woke up that morning, I had all of ten minutes to make up my decision on what I should do. I hadn't come to your room that night to do that. I'd come to apologize for being a jerk and to get a proper goodbye. What I really wanted was to kiss you; I'd always wanted to--properly kiss that is. The right way. I hadn't thought to myself, 'You know what? I think I'll go up to Hermione's room, and- you know.' Then, I woke up and had to process what we'd done- what I'd done. And I had to think. All I could think, was for three days, Hermione had talked nonstop about all her big plans. None of those big plans involved Ron Weasley. She needed freedom, not to be held back by me. I was just a roadblock. I guess I figured it was just time to start thinking about people besides myself."

I had no idea all that could've gone through Ron's mind. Didn't I once say he had the emotional range of a teaspoon? Wasn't not spoiling his dreams the same reason I had never told him about Baker? Did I even have a right to be angry? What was I supposed to say? "Stop talking about me in the third person."

That was good. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"It still doesn't make sense. I'd told you how I felt about you. Didn't that ever cross your mind?"

Ron sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Look, I haven't told you everything."

I hardly heard him. "It should've crossed your mind. 'Maybe she's scared. Maybe she needs me.'"

"It did. I was sitting all alone in my room, and all I could think about was what a huge mistake I'd made, but...I also knew you were already gone."

"So, why didn't you chase after me?!" I asked hysterically as if he would really do something that ridiculous.

He looked at his feet again. This seemed to be the part he had been dreading. He gulped. "I did."

I nearly fell off the bed in shock. "You—what?"

"That's right," he said miserably. "I followed you—all the way to France. Merlin, I was a dumb, lovesick git."

"But, you never--"

"Nope," Ron said, clearly disgusted at what he had to admit. "Never made it that far. Lost my nerve the second I got there. I was such an idiot!" He seemed very keen to repeat phrase as many times as possible.

Unsure I wanted to know, I asked, "What happened in France, Ron?"

Ron shook his head. I could tell he was regretting telling me this story. "I did what any guy who was that confused would. I went to a bar and order as many drinks as I could hold. And then, I met this girl." I shut my eyes tight, trying not to see the perfect mental picture. Now I knew I didn't want to know.

"And?"

"I think she was almost as drunk as me. We started talking. I told her about you and everything...I think. She seemed to understand. By the end of the night," he winced, "we were hanging all over each other. I walked her up to her room, and she asked me in. and--" he dropped all pretense and averted his eyes completely from my face—"we did what you and I did."

Even when I knew it was coming, I had never imagined anything could hurt me this much. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have ever of trusted him?

"Ron, how—did—is--?"

"Wait, don't yell at me yet. I haven't finished."

I nervously twisted my hair around my finger. "Please continue." Please continue crushing my heart.

"The girl was—it was—Griselda. Not that it was her fault. She was very drunk. More than me I think."

As much as it hurt, hearing Ron defend Gris like that made my heart go out to him. Ron took the entire blame for everything. I tried to use this as an attempt to calm myself down. And I was not about to start crying.

"So, that's how you knew her when Anthony introduced you? That's why she dumped him and started dating you. It must've been a little more than a drunken night of fun."

Ron nodded, seeming very interested in the wall the to the left of my ear.

Unable to contain myself, a question burning inside of me jumped out before I could stop it. "Have you ever—since?"

Ron looked startled by my total invasion of privacy, but seemed to conclude that I deserved to know the truth. Not even pretending to misunderstand the question, he nodded. "Once. After Harry and Charlie's party."

It made me almost physically sick to know the actual truth. Suddenly, a dam seemed to break through in my chest and I was screaming at Ron for every thing he'd ever done to me. "...and you never apologized. And just, how could you ever do that to me?! You made me think you loved me, and the next day you're just shacking up with some random girl off the street. You 'stopped thinking about yourself?' Yeah right. You never once thought about me when you were with her! What, did you even feed her the same lines you used on me?!"

"Hermione! HERMIONE!" he screamed over my ranting. I angrily pushed some stray hairs that had gone flying during my screaming out of my face. "You just don't see, do you? You deserve to yell at me. I just always wanted to tell you something—I mean, there's something I wanted to tell you that first time I saw you in four years at that party. You were my first. And I will never, ever regret that. I'll never feel that same way about anybody else."

I stood up and kicked a broomstick out of my way as I headed toward the door. When I reached it, I turned, the tears finally catching up with me. "Here's something, Ron! I didn't have to sleep around to find out you weren't right for me. You were my only!" I slammed the door closed on his unreadable face.

I sat down on the floor in the middle of the flat. The conversation just kept replaying itself in my head. Someone had pasted a mental picture in my mind of Ron and Gris. It played continually. I didn't think I had cried this much since I found out I was pregnant. Life was so unfair.

Somewhere during the hours as I sat, it began to pour down rain. It seemed the weather was echoing my feelings.

The rain held steady after it had started. I didn't believe I had ever heard it pounding this hard. It couldn't even be making noise like that, banging against the door.

I got up and frantically swung open the door, wondering what could possibly be going on now. Behind the door stood a tall someone, soaked from head to foot. His red hair was flattened against his forehead, dripping water. Water was running all down his face.

My motherly worry immediately jumped in, and I sprang out of the way. "What's going on? Has something happened?"

He shook his head and water went flying in all directions. "What, then? I mean, good gracious, Ron. How long have you been walking around out there?"

He shrugged. "A couple of hours?"

"Here, let me take your robes."

He obediently let me pull his robes off over his head, and I laid them across the armchair, figuring I could clean up whatever mess they made after he was calmed down. I ushered him over to the couch and made him sit.

"Ron, what's the matter?" I asked, noting the frightened look on his face.

He finally turned toward me. "She's mine," he whispered.

"Ron, what--?"

"You said it yourself. I was your only. Baker—she's my daughter. How could I have been so stupid? A man in France? She has my eyes—and my hair! Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

He abruptly jumped up from the couch. I mouthed wordlessly at him, not having the faintest idea of what I should say.

"Why, Hermione? HUH! Goddammit, why?" He seized one of Gris' glass figurines and hurled it at the wall where it smashed into a thousand pieces, and hit the floor. "Did I do something to deserve this? Would I be such a bad father that you had to keep her from me?" He threw another of the figurines. "I may not be the best person in the world, but does that make me so horrible, I can't even know about my own kid? Why didn't I deserve a chance? Why the hell did you do this to me, Hermione?!" He picked up one last figurine, but held it loosely in his hand for a moment and then dropped it back on the table.

Though I knew I had deserved it, my tears had returned to embarrass me afresh. Why did he always have to be there when I started crying? I tried to sound out 'Ron' on my lips, but I couldn't get any words out. All I heard was a stifled cry.

Ron dropped his gaze, and his body as well, back onto the couch. He seemed to be growing quickly ashamed of his outburst. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I deserved it."

"No, you don't deserve anything. I've been walking out there for hours, thinking about what I would say when I finally got the nerve to come in here. I started to think about all the reasons you would possibly have to not tell me about this...and I dunno. I came up with a million."

I knew now was the time I had to be straightforward with him. "You're right, of course. You were about the last person I wanted to talk to when I found out I was pregnant. I knew you had as big of dreams as I did. You wanted to be an auror. I mean, if I had written to you about Baker, what would you have done?"

"I would've been there so fast, you wouldn't have had time to blink," Ron said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. To me, it was.

" I know. I would've ruined your future. I could've never forgiven myself if I had done that."

"But... but, afterward. When we met up again. You've had so many chance to tell me in the past couple of weeks. Why wouldn't you?"

"I was afraid, ok?"

He shook his head. "I can never forgive you for not telling me about my own daughter."

"I wish you'd try."

"I don't have time to try. I have to figure out who this girl is. I have to know everything about her. Like what's her name?" Another headshake. "Goddammit, I don't even know my own daughter's full name."

I ran a hand through my distressed hair. "Her name's Baker Rosalind Granger. You know, like Shakespeare's Rosalind? Like Shakespeare's Hermione?"

"It's...perfect," he mused. "You don't need me. I am a screw up."

"Merlin, Ron. You're making this impossible. I didn't lie about her because I didn't think you could be a dad. I think you'd be a great father."

Ron looked doubtful. "Then, what is it? Spit it out already."

"I really don't know...it was everything. You had your own life—a pretty girlfriend, your dream job, the perfect family...you didn't need that."

He seemed to be growing fond of headshakes. "I can't believe you'd—mine—tell me--"

I sat silently as Ron continued to mumble incoherently to himself. "Her birthday's two days after yours, did you know that?"

He looked up. "Really?"

"Yeah, this year, we threw the party at the bookstore. She turned three. Ally, Mrs. Ardsley and I made her this fabulous cake. I almost caught the kitchen on fire. It was blue, the cake that is." I smiled, savoring the memory.

"Is blue her favorite color?" he asked, also smiling slightly.

I knew what I had to do. He needed a reality check. "Would you like to see her?"

"What?"

"I mean, she still looks like you when she sleeps. C'mon."

I took him by the wrist and led him towards the back of the flat where our daughter's room was.

Ron took a deep breath as he stared at the red head before his eyes. "It's like seeing her for the first time."

I reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face, staring at Ron all the while. "Would you like to touch her?" I asked.

"What?"

I took his hand and used it to brush away more of Baker's hair. "It's not scary or anything. Her eyes are scary. You can't see her eyes," I whispered, scooting very close to him. "Your eyes," I corrected.

He stared up into mine and smiled. "We should go before we wake her up."

I nodded my agreement and we walked back to the front of the flat.

"I think I'll just stay the night here. Well, the rest of the night here."

"You sure?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah," he said. "Me and this couch'll get along great."

I rolled my eyes at his abysmal English skills. "Let me go get you a pillow and blanket." Before I did so, I leaned down with my wand to repair Gris' figurines. But, when I looked back up, Ron was already stretched out on the couch with his eyes closed.

"Won't be necessary," he murmured.

I giggled slightly because his legs weren't even close to fitting all the way on the couch. I put out the candles in the room.

My giggling abruptly changed to silent tears rolling down my cheeks, and I had no idea why. Ron seemed to have already fallen asleep, and I willed myself to go to my bedroom, but my legs wouldn't move. Staring at him, I couldn't believe we actually shared a daughter.

I jumped slightly. "Hermione, why are you still here?" Ron asked. Through the semi-darkness, I saw he still hadn't opened his eyes.

"I'm not," I protested.

"And why on Earth are you crying?" he continued, eyes still drawn tightly. I didn't even sound like I was crying!

"I'm not."

"Sure."

"I--"

"Hermione, c'mere," Ron said, finally prying his eyes apart.

I walked obediently over so I was standing right in front of him. "What?"

"Come here," he said, more gently, taking my arms and pulling me onto the couch with him.

I found myself lying on the couch in front of him, his arms linked around my waist so he could guarantee I wouldn't fall. It seemed that this couch had been made for us to lie on it together because we fit so perfectly. I suddenly felt much calmer.

Ron put his mouth to my ear. "Don't cry. Everything's going to be fine."

And for some reason, I whispered back, "I know."

I didn't know what had made his do it—impulse I guess. He always used to go to any lengths to protect me. Except from himself.

I could feel Ron's warm breath grazing the back of my neck. "G'night, Hermione."

"Goodnight."

I didn't mean to fall asleep there. The darkness was pressing a veil over my eyes and taking me to a dreamland. I watched two people playing chess. From what I could see of their faces, they looked scared—and I was scared too. I knew we were dreading something. Someone squeezed my hand. We all looked up, hearing loud screaming—our teachers. We ran to force open the portrait hole. I suddenly knew where I was. The Gryffindor common room. The hole wouldn't open. I looked to the figures, about to make them out, when a door flew open.

"Oh my God."

I opened my eyes. Oh my God.

A/N: And, there you go. Loved it hated it? Tell me! I know there are y'all out there who swore you wouldn't review again till I told Ron, and now I did, so review, dammit! I also know about those of you out there who read and don't review. I have lists, names, addresses! I will come and get you. So, if you read, review. It's the right thing to do.

Begin dreamy sequence

Ratonton sits at his computer

Ratonton: Gosh, I love reviews. I love getting reviews. Hey, I just read a story and I like it. I will put this author on my alert list, but I will not review, what if she is mean to me?

Giant smuffin appears

Giant smuffin: You love reviews, don't you? Don't you think Laurie might like reviews?! If you like it, tell her! If you hate it, tell her! She won't be mean, and if she is, flame her! It's all in good fun!

Ratonton: That's brilliant! clicks submit review

Giant smuffin: Yes, yes, it is! Kids, if you read, review. It's the right thing to do!

Lil John: What?! Oh-kay!

End commercial with more cheesy music

Guys, be warned, before you read your response, I am hyped on gummy bears.

PiNaYPeAcHiE: You just loved it, loved it, loved it, didn't you?! Yey for thickness insert now trademark thickness dance You are the way coolest!

whirledpeas08: Thanks! I will write more...WAIT! I did write more! hits self in head

ilikechicken: It is confusing but I will not kill Gris! No killing of people! Chicken lovers should be peaceful! With a side of honey mustard!

elijahsbaby1981: Yey! The cloak dude it the man. The man with the plot! Let's tackle him!

HogwartzBoizRHottiez: Confusing for Hermione?! What about me?! LOL

Cheese riot: I decided to give you your own review reply too cause you're so damn cool! Feel special!

Alanpatty07: You will not kill me or my computer. Mwahahahahha! You just think you can. turns back into lovely, nice person P.s. Thanks for the somehow funniest review ever.

PyroAndrea: Good, good, I will!

PrettyTeenWitch; Yes, Ginny is evil! Evilevilevil! But you cannot be dizzy. Close your eyes and count backwards from 10. it helps, I swear!

Mufleta: Listen up, I don't know what's going on over there in your country, but here, you must like the main character. Now BEG FOR FORGIVENESS! Lol jk!

Lisa Potter: I read your story! I reviewed. I am the greatest gets bonked upside head by Ratonton I would post more frequently, but I must give my beta time to do her job and I must edit. Would you believe I have edited this chapter alone like 59 times? My computer can tell me.

Kiki: Yes, they're meant to be together, but did you read the rest of the story?

Gigglegirl13: Yey for surprises. Maybe they'll fall in love now! You think I'd do it that easily? No rubs hands together evilly You will wait- wait and see- yesyes

Tiffiany-45: Is that a burn? Feels burned. Was that like it was interesting but not entertaining in the least bit? Was that you're fat and ugly and I hate your story. What are you trying to say?! Lol jk. I'm gonna go take a chill pill.

MPPSexxySiriusJamesRemus: I told her! Do you love me forever now? You should, you know.