"Don't presume to tell me what to do, you little chit!"
"You're still an insufferable bastard, Severus. Get over your damned complex." Alexis growled, and moved to the bed to begin pulling off the covers. "You never forgive, not even yourself."
Severus threw down the bedclothes that lay in his arms. "I don't have a 'complex', Alexis. But I do so loath the Potters, not only for their pubescent, idiotic son, but for also their lack of forethought before openly opposing the Dark Lord. They put too many lives at risk."
Alexis turned to look at him, hands on her hips. "I guess it's different for you, then."
Severus had closed the bedroom door and moved around to the opposite side of the bed. He leaned, hands pressed into the feather down mattress, his face a mask of anger. "What the hell does that mean, little girl?"
She imitated his position. She was livid. "When we first met, you caused me to be in danger. When you switched sides, you caused danger for my entire family. Then when our son was born---"
Severus slapped his hands against the bed. "Don't you dare! Don't bring Silvvam into this!"
"Oh, do shut up, you over grown bat! I wasn't blaming you for his death. I was merely trying to say that even then, you were so wrapped up in your own problems you failed to notice that we were in constant danger, from Lucius Malfoy especially."
It was true. Everyone knew of Snape's marriage to Alexis Dumbledore, and many of former Death Eaters made it a point to 'visit' every so often. Lucius Malfoy had applauded him for his effort to secure a place in Dumbledore's confidence by marrying his most beloved child. The small, budding family was under constant surveillance and Severus knew that should any of the Dark Lord's men learn of the truth behind their marriage, it would spell the death of all he loved.
Severus dropped to his knees by the bed and buried his head in the black comforter. The fight had left him. He was defeated by both time and death. "I cannot argue, so I shall not," he said, his faced turned slightly so that his words were not muffled.
"Severus," Alexis said, moving to encircle his shoulders and head in her arms. "You are a good man. An un-told bastard at times, but you are a good, honorable man. You have made mistakes; as have we all, that put others in peril, true enough. Yet you have risked your life beyond calling to save others." She paused, stroking her hair. He turned and pressed his face in her waist.
"Alexis?"
"Yes?"
"Do you...forgive me?"
"There is really nothing to forgive." Alexis turned his face upwards. "I care for you deeply...I still love you—but you make me so mad sometimes. You shoulder the world and yet act like a Harry."
Severus jumped, angry at once again being compared to a Potter. "I am no boy, Alexis." To prove so, he grabbed her shoulders—yanking her violently to him.
His mouth crashed down, ruthless in his possession. Alexis, bewildered, did not resist. Her body followed his—until he pushed her away, but he did not release her. "How many others have kissed you like this Alexis? How many," he spat, "Americans touched you like this!" He cupped her left breast in his hand.
She leaned in. "Severus, please."
He kissed her again, gentler this time, but still passion filled. "How many?" he rasped. Grabbing both of her shoulders, he forced her to the bed. He leaned down, pinning her arms above her head. "Did any of them make you feel like this?" He pressed down, and ground his erection into her soft flesh. She gasped in excitement. "How many of them—"
"Never!" She pushed back against him. "No one, Severus...No one."
He moved one hand to her throat. "Good. Because I warn you...If we do this now—we do this for life," he pressed down. "And I will kill any man who assumes to take my place."
With a flick of his wrist, they were both unclothed and the bed and been turned down. He leaned down and kissed her lips, her eyes, her breasts...
Lifting her, he dropped her unceremoniously onto the mattress.
"You're my wife, Alexis. Don't ever leave me again."