Ginny just stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell!" she finally managed to say. "You can't keep your lousy hands to yourself so your answer is for me to follow you around! What the hell!" She got up and left the table, moving to stand before the fireplace in the living room.

He lit the fire for her but she didn't seem to notice. He sat on the couch with his head in his hands, waiting for something, anything from her.

Finally she turned back to him. "Don't I mean anything to you?"

He looked up her, face full of pain, guilt, and concern, "More than my life!"

"Than why can't you...why couldn't you...if this was they only answer why are you just coming up with it now?" Her voice broke his heart. He longe to wrap her in his arms but he knew that would be a bad idea right now.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Gin, I'm so sorry." His tears started flowing again.

"You're sorry? Of course you're sorry." She turned back to the fire and sat down before it. "I love you Draco. I love you with all that I am. I thought that you loved me the same way." Her voice was so far away and she looked so small.

He was by her side before he had blinked. He buried his face in her lap. "I do, oh, I do, Gin. Please believe me, I do."

"But not enough to stay with me." She had absentmindly brought her hand up to the back of his neck and was rubbing it. Her eyes were still transfixed by the fire.

He sat up. "I don't want to leave you, Gin, I never want to leave you. Come with me. We can go away. We have enough to spend our lives on the road. Come with me and we'll never..."

She interrupted him. Turning her eyes fully on him with the fire's dance reflected in them. "What am I to you?"

"Everything."

"When I look in your eyes..." she ignored his answer, "I never want to part, Draco. I'm giving you the ball. Do you love me enough to stay?" All emotion had drained from her. She simply couldn't take any more of this. She was so tired. She hadn't slept since she left his office. All she wanted to know what if he loved her enough to stay. She would go anywhere with him he wanted if he was only willing to stay.

"I'll do anything to keep you." He buried his face in her lap again. "I'll do anything to keep you. I'll never leave London again if you'll only forgive me, give me another chance."

She kissed the back of his head and stood up. He watched her stand, fear deep in his eyes. "I'm tired," she said. "I haven't slept in days." She started walking toward the bedroom. He stood and took a few steps to follow her but stopped. He was so afraid he had lost her forever. "Sleep out here tonight. I don't know where you've been." She disappeared into the bedroom and he sank onto the couch in complete and utter dejection. She was gone. He had lost her.

He jumped a foot when she reentered with a pillow and a blanket for him. "Just give me time. This won't be easy for me." She handed him the things and turned to leave again.

He sank onto the couch practically sobbing with relief.

"And I like your idea of going away. It would probably make this easier for both of us," she said before closing the door for the night.

They left the next day for the Mediterranean. The spent two months abroad. It took Ginny two weeks before she could bring herself to share a bed with her husband and a month before she could feel his touch without feeling dirty and betrayed. Slowly, ever so slowly, they began to rebuild what he had destroyed.

The spent most of the the first few days in complete silence. Then, for a while, they just talked, almost about nothing. Slowly their conversation became more natural and she became more comfortable with him again. A few nights before they left for London they were standing on the balcony of their hotel room and he had his arms wrapped around her. He couldn't believe how good it felt to have her in his arms again, relaxed, not forcing herself to stay there.

She slowly turned in his arms and looked up at him. "Kiss me," she said softly.

He bent his head down and lightly kissed her lips. She closed her eyes and let him. He waited for her reaction. She just stood there in his arms with her eyes closed. Finally, she pushed herself up on her toes ever so slightly so she could kiss him the way he had kissed her. Again, he waited, knowing that everything was no determined by her desires. When she moved up again he returned her second kiss, so simple and so soft, but still the most glorious thing he had ever felt in his entire life.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him closely. "I love you, Draco."

"I love you too."

By their fourth anniversary they had recovered most of what they had lost.