A/N: Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you had a good holiday! It was Severus' birthday the other day, and whilst his day does not fit into this section of the story, Rosie assures me that he did have a marvellous time! Good on ya, girl!

Chapter 14: The Decision

Alina Apparated back to her house in the English countryside and walked into her front room. Rosie was sitting by the fire eating some cereal and reading the newspaper. Alina moved over to where she was and sat down next to her.

"Where did you get to?" Rosie asked. She had woken up in the morning and realised that Alina was not in the house. While this had not distressed her she thought that a note or a word the night before might have been nice.

"Yeah," said Alina. "I need to talk to you about that."

"What?" said Rosie, putting her empty bowl down in the fireplace.

"I – okay – don't get annoyed with me, I did it for the best."

"What did you do?"

"I went and saw Severus."

"You did what? Why?"

"Because I don't know him – I can't give you that much advice when I don't even know what he's like."

"I suppose," said Rosie, then she grinned at Alina. "So, what did you think of him?"

"I can see why you like him."

"Handsome isn't he?"

Alina smirked, "Yeah, whatever. He's the kind of guy you would find attractive. He's all right. He's nice though, I like him."

"What did you say to him?" asked Rosie.

"Well, I went round there and he opened the door and let me in. He gave me a tea and we just talked about you two. I said that you still loved him and all that, I said that there might be a chance that you'd forgive him, that you two seemed good together. I told him about what you'd said to me – you know, how he was afraid of admitting his true feelings-"

"You didn't," said Rosie in a low voice.

"Yeah I did."

"What did he say to that?"

"Well," said Alina, deliberating to the point. "He was a bit annoyed at first," Rosie snorted. "But then he calmed down. He took it all well you know. He's really nice. I think you should go back to him."

"Nice isn't the word that I'd use," said Rosie.

"Rosie – why on Earth did you go out with him in the first place if you didn't think he was nice?" asked Alina, shaking her head.

"I don't mean it like that – I love him, or I did," she looked at Alina's face. "Fine, I do. I just wouldn't use the word 'nice' to describe him. I mean, Remus Lupin – he's genuinely nice. A really 'nice' person. That doesn't suit Severus, he's – I don't know – unique." Alina smiled. "But that's why I like him. If he was really kind and charming and wasn't at all cynical then I don't think I'd like him – not in that way anyway."

"Yeah, you couldn't be with someone who didn't have the same sense of humour, could you?"

"Ha, ha," Rosie droned sarcastically. "Very amusing."

Alina narrowed her eyes in mock-anger and said, "Yeah, so anyway. I – er – approve of your – Severus."

"Now you sound just like my mother."

Alina laughed, "Thanks. But, he at least spoke to me. I mean, he didn't exactly push me out of the door or anything!"

"What?" asked Rosie sharply. She had just thought of something. Something that Severus was likely to do and Alina was likely not to tell her – get ludicrously angry.

"He didn't throw me out of the house. I just left – well, sort of," she finished the last bit off quietly as if she knew what Rosie's response would be.

"Why did you leave him?"

"Huh?" said Alina, feigning ignorance.

"I mean – was there any reason? Did he tell you to leave or-"

"I don't see why you need to know but he told me to leave," Rosie groaned. "But only because he was going to cry – I don't think he wanted me to comfort him," she added.

Rosie looked up, "Then he's not that annoyed!" Alina looked confused. "He would have thrown you out of the house if he'd been annoyed."

A while later Rosie said, "He was crying?"

"He was about to. He looked a bit worse for wear when I saw him first, but he could just look like that normally," Alina said with a smile at Rosie, Rosie slapped her on the arm.

"Shut it girl! This is my man you're insulting!"

"Hah!" said Alina victoriously. "Your man!"

"Shut up, Alina."

"Just admit it Rosie, you miss him. Don't worry, I can take it," she said sniffing in mock sadness. "I know I'm no substitute for Severus Snape."

"No, but you're a great friend," she said and they shared a hug. "So you think I should go back?"

Alina sighed exasperatedly. "Yes! I've been telling you that ever since you arrived. Just sod off back home!"

Rosie sighed and stood up. She went upstairs and got her things back together. She realised suddenly that it was the 1st of January – the start of a New Year, a new beginning. After all the excitement Rosie had completely to celebrate the New Year properly, what an absolute imbecile.

She was packed and ready to go in about an hour and a half. Alina made her a lunch of pasta with the new pasta cookbook Rosie had given her for Christmas. It was a joke present; Alina was a truly awful cook. She probably would be able to cook with practice, she was just totally ignorant, she didn't even seem to know what an oven was! Sometimes Rosie did wonder how she survived life.

After lunch Alina made her leave the house but Rosie was too nervous to go back to Severus. She wanted to stay a few more days. Rosie had a plan though, when she got back, an after they had settled down a bit, Rosie would ask him to explain everything. She was fed up of not telling people things; it had been the only problem in their relationship.

Rosie Apparated from outside Alina's house to outside her own. She recognised the street and she recognised the lawn leading up to their front door. The ground was still frosty and cold, she trod carefully up the path and up to her front door. She opened it and walked straight in.

She couldn't see Severus anywhere downstairs, she thought that he must be in his study. She climbed the stairs as quietly as she could and dumped her bag in her room. Rosie heard a door creak and realised that Severus was indeed coming out of his study. She hastily shut herself in their bedroom. She heard him walk by and she could smell his scent, masculine and hard and most definitely Severus.

He went into the kitchen and Rosie crept down the stairs and headed into the kitchen. Severus was standing with his back to Rosie, looking heavily down at the work surface and drumming his fingers idly on the kitchen units.

"Hello," she said.

He whipped around to face her. He looked different than she remembered. His eyes had dark circles under them and he was – if possible – paler than before. It looked as though he hadn't slept well.

"Hello," he said. His voice was low and tight, she guessed it was the emotional strain he was under. Suddenly her own throat became constricted and she knew that when she spoke her voice would quaver.

"Are you staying?" he asked. "Because if you're not, would you mind leaving soon? I don't think I can bear it." There was raw emotion in his statement but he was still on the defensive.

"I'm staying," trying to sound as calm as possible.

"You are?"

Rosie paused for a few moments, trying to get her voice under control. "Yes," she said, blinking back tears and stared at the ceiling just above Severus' head.

"Are you staying with me?"

Rosie looked back at him; he looked thoroughly miserable and unsure of himself. "Oh god, yes Sev, of course I am!"

She walked up to him and put her arms round his neck. He immediately responded to her touch by winding his arms around her too. Rosie sighed; it was as if nothing had happened to tear them apart. Rosie felt secure in his embrace, safe with him. There was nowhere else that she would rather be. Even though this was just a hug, Rosie knew that Severus felt the same.

He bent his head towards her and Rosie opened her mouth, she felt his tongue inside her mouth and knew that this was where she was supposed to be. She kissed him back, gently. They were both unsure and nervous, she could almost feel Severus trembling against her. He deepened the kiss, pushing himself towards her more. His hands were on her back, gently running up and down her spine. Rosie felt a lovely tingling sensation down her leg; she sighed into his mouth.

Severus broke the kiss and moved his mouth to her ear.

"You forgive me? After everything?"

"Yes," Rosie managed to gasp back.

He kissed her on the flesh just beneath her earlobe. Rosie sighed and lent her head backwards so that he had better access to her neck. He moved down her neck slowly, as though savouring every part of her body. Suddenly, he flung his arms around her and all Rosie could see was taut material where the shirt clung to his arms. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. A solitary tear dropped from her eye and meandered down her cheek onto his shoulder. Rosie sniffed and took a step back from him.

Her hand went up and brushed the hair back off his face and then rested on the side of his head, gently thumbing his jaw. He smiled softly, his eyes becoming warm again. They shared another kiss before Severus said simply,

"I missed you."

A/N: The last sentence was a repetition of Severus' original confession of feelings towards Rosie. I felt that it was appropriate to have him say the same thing again.

snip-snippet : Thanks again for your reviews! Lol. The cats are just fine and they are happily settling into life with Rosie and Severus. And, btw, I love having you as my weird, deluded, handicap reviewer!

Mrs N Snape: I didn't mean to pressurise you into reviewing but thank you so much for doing so anyway! Don't worry if you can't review every chapter, I still thank you tonnes for providing me with the confidence to continue posting here. Wow, German into Dutch … you're a linguist! I used to study German, but I was absolutely terrible – or rather – nicht gut! And, by the way, you write it very well! Lol. Thanks for your review!

CicadaInvasion: Lol. Thanks! Hope you continue to read and enjoy the story!

An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin: What an amazing name, and cheers for such an enthusiastic review! Hugs! I really don't wish to face your squirrelly wrath, so I have updated … thanks again!

tab-sempai: Thanks for the review. There's so much that I want to put in the story that will probably never surface, otherwise the story would be about sixty chapters long! You will, though, meet Rosie's family – this will probably provide insight into her past! Thanks!