He made her drop her groceries and Jade's mind whirled feeling concerned about his sudden behavior and if the eggs were broken or not. That was the only carton the supermarket had left!
Draco pressed her into a wall and kept kissing her urgently as if he was going to lose her at any given moment. She kissed back, wondering what was wrong with him. He had never kissed her that way in years!
"I love you." Draco said breaking off the kiss and kissing her back again.
"Mm, I love you too!" Jade tried to say but Draco's kisses were making it impossible for her to do so. Her heart soared inside of her hearing what she wanted to hear from Draco who had been so distant from her.
"I'm never going to leave you. Never." He said leaning in to kiss her again. He savored every moment that he had with her and thanked Rosa for giving him this chance. He broke off the kiss and pulled her into a tight embrace kissing her hair.
Jade pulled back and looked at him strangely, smiling. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" she asked touching his face.
He didn't know how to answer her. How was he going to explain his sudden behavior? Should he tell her the truth? But that would mean that he was doing this because he knew she was going to die. She'd think he was doing her a favor when in fact; he was honestly doing this for both of themselves.
"Are you okay?" she asked softly, running her fingers through his hair. He nodded and hugged her again, resting his cheek on her hair.
"Just had a bad dream…that's all." He answered. He heard her giggle and she hugged him tightly, looking up at him.
"A bad dream? That's all? Well don't worry, it's not real and it'll never come true. Did you have breakfast love?" Jade asked releasing him and bending down to pick up the groceries. She went to walk to the kitchen but screamed in surprise when she saw the mess all over the living room.
"What happened in here?" Jade asked placing the groceries on the floor and inspecting the roses and champagne in the living room. "Oh no…our pictures. They're broken. My goodness, it was fine when I left this morning for the groceries! Honey did you let a Kneazle in again?" Jade asked, picking up the frames.
Draco stopped her from picking it up and they both locked eyes. "Allow me." He whispered. He looked back at the frames and murmured a spell that restored the frames back to their places. He cleaned up the mess in the hallway and in the living room and everything was where it should have been. Draco scooped the bags up to help her and brought them into the kitchen, feeling a rush through his body. He felt new again and filled with life and hope. He was going to make this work.
"What would you like to have today?" Jade asked as she took out everything from the bag.
"Why don't you let me make breakfast today?" Draco asked her. Jade looked at him, raising her eyebrows.
Something was definitely wrong with him. Draco Malfoy wanted to make breakfast? Jade let out a small snort of laughter and quickly composed herself before she upset Draco.
"What?" he asked suddenly uncomfortable. Jade shook her head and waved her hand.
"I'm just an idiot; don't pay any attention to me." Jade said as Draco shifted from foot to foot.
"So can I make breakfast today?" he asked seeing that 'I-don't-think-that's-a-good-idea' look in her eyes again.
"You don't have to Draco. I can make it really quickly and-"
"I have absolutely no problem making breakfast today. Just take a seat over there and tell me what to do." He said guiding her towards a stool. Jade sat down and watched him look around for a pan.
"First things first, what do you want for breakfast?" Jade asked him. He turned to her with a pan in his hands and shook his head.
"That's not first. First is what would you like for breakfast?" Draco asked. He saw her sit up straighter in her stool surprised that he was asking her this. It made him feel ashamed of himself to see that he never gave her a choice in the marriage, that he never asked what she wanted. He always did things the way he wanted and if she thought differently, he'd force her to comply.
"I…I don't know. I'll have whatever you'll have." She stuttered, afraid that if she said anything he didn't want, he'd leave. He set the pan down and walked over to her seeing her wince and be prepared for another argument. Jade waited for it. She waited for him to patronize her and leave her for work. What could she ever say to satisfy him? Instead she watched him kneel on his knees and take her hands.
"This has nothing to do with me anymore. I've been selfish all my life and asked you to do things you didn't want. Can you please give me the privilege of cooking you a breakfast of your favorites?" he asked softly.
Jade blinked at him. She knew he was being sincere and thoughtful but for some reason thought it was too good to be true. All of a sudden he had completely changed as if he had been the old Draco she had fallen in love with. Sweet and considerate from the man she had been married to who turned into cold stone. She felt him squeeze her hands and she nodded.
"I'll have pancakes and eggs." Jade told him seeing him nod. He kissed her cheek and stood up, looking for where to start. He scratched his head, wondering what to do first. Should he start the eggs first or the pancakes? What was he going to do if something started to burn? She wouldn't be too pleased with him. He took out a bowl and started to wonder how he was going to make the pancakes.
"Need some help?" Jade asked seeing him shake his head and assure her that he was doing perfectly well.
"You know, your pancakes will be probably better than mine. I mean I'm always doing everything backwards. My mother always told me to make the batter first. She always told me 'Jade, you need to have flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, eggs and melted butter to make the best pancakes you had ever had.'" Jade told him, seeing him fetch the ingredients from the cupboard.
"Is that so?" he asked, placing them in the counter.
"She'd tell me to put the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Just like the way you're doing right now." Jade said seeing him smile triumphantly.
"What else did she tell you?" he asked, acting as if he were busy with putting the used ingredients back.
"Then she'd tell me to make a little well in the middle of the bowl and pour the milk, eggs and butter inside and stir." Jade said. She watched him confidently do what she had told him and start to heat the pan. He had a hard time trying to pour the batter in so Jade took this excuse to help him.
As they worked together, Jade felt better than she had before. She remembered on their early days of marriage, he'd desperately try to impress her with his horrible cooking and gave up entirely. Ever since that, he never touched the kitchen to make anything for himself or her. She loved being in the kitchen, only if there was someone there to keep her company. She remembered helping her mother make food and talk to her while they cooked. Now that she cooked all alone, Jade almost always dreaded to cook anything. She flipped the pancakes to the other side and watched Draco play around with the eggs.
"You're really good at cooking, did you know that?" Jade asked seeing him give her a shy smile. "Stop lying to me, Blast Ended Skrewts have a better chance at cooking a breakfast than I do." he said wrapping his arms around her. Jade helped take the breakfast to the dinner table where they ate and spoke about Christmas plans.
"If it's all right with you, I'd like to have a big Christmas dinner just like every other Christmas you know? And what if we asked the elderly couple over? The Carren's?" Jade asked carefully seeing Draco nod and pour himself some orange juice. She thought she would ask him now rather than later, since he was in such a good mood this morning.
"I think that's a great idea. But whatever happened to their children? Don't they have any?" Draco asked seeing Jade twirl her fork in her fingers, looking at her food.
"Their children want to spend Christmas with their own children and friends. It's sad actually. People that still have their parents who are still alive and well but so alone. They just take their parents for granted and forget about them. Imagine that…imagine how the Carren's feel, children that they helped grow and love and lose sleep over, those same kids forget about their parents. I'm sometimes happy in a way that we didn't have kids. I wouldn't like to be forgotten that way." She said ruefully.
Draco stopped chewing, feeling himself lose his appetite. There was so much irony behind her words; he didn't know where to start. To be forgotten, he was sure that she lived with the fact that Draco had always forgotten her. Then he noticed how much she resented other people for treating their parents like nobodies. She cared about her own parents and always had seen other elderly people as her own parents and treated them like hers since she was never close to her own.
"Are you finished? I'll wash the dishes today." Jade said getting up.
"I'm done." He said quietly. She took the plates from the table and left to wash the dishes as Draco started thinking.
"How's the first day going so far?" Rosa said appearing in front of him.
Draco looked up to see her comfortably sitting on the chair in front of him, looking through a stack of Christmas cards Jade had written out to her entire neighborhood.
"How can a person be so patient?" she mumbled as she looked through them.
"There's so much I want to do for her…I just don't know what to do or how to do it." Draco said seeing her shake her head and sigh slightly.
"It shouldn't take you this long you know. You're a smart man but by goodness you are slow when it comes to learning what a person would want and need."
"It's too risky. I don't want things to end badly if I take her to the Burrow." Draco said in a low voice so Jade couldn't hear from the kitchen. Rosa shrugged.
"Things don't have to end badly Draco. You always have another choice." She said.
"I don't think you understand Rosa. The last time we went to visit the Burrow, we had a big fight with her parents and left before her brothers murdered us. None of them were for this marriage. All of them hate me." Draco said sternly.
Again she seemed unfazed and indifferent to what he was trying to tell her. "All I can tell you is that things change…people change. Especially if we're given 5 or 6 years. You've never been the same Draco when you started out, married to Jade didn't you? Jade isn't the same as she was 5 or 6 years ago. Situations change and feelings for other people change Draco. If you're willing to take the risk to see what might happen then she'll know you at least tried. Hm…I think I hear Mila Carren is asking if her car would work. Excuse me while I see that small issue." Rosa said getting up.
"What? Where are you going? I'm not finished-"
"Honey? Who are you talking to?" Jade asked from the doorway.
Draco turned around and saw that Jade looked at him curiously. "Er…no one. I'm just…stretching." Draco said pulling his arms forward. Jade chuckled at his weird display.
"What do you want to do today?" Draco asked holding her hand and taking her to the living room where they sat on the comfortable sofa. Jade smiled as she nestled into his strong and warm chest, feeling the comfort of the sofa and his body together. This was such a pleasant day; Jade dared to wish that it would never stop.
"You won't be going to work today?" Jade asked him, seeing him shake his head. He ran his hands down her back feeling her shudder slightly from his soothing touch.
"I won't go to work whenever you're here. I want to spend every living moment I can with you." he told her, feeling her dig her face deeper into his chest. He remembered what he told her on that Sunday morning when she simply requested him to stay with her, just because they had the day off together. He couldn't imagine what it would have felt like for her when he left. If she deliberately left him to attend other things, he'd be crushed.
"I'm glad I'm getting to spend Christmas with you." Jade told him. He breathed in deeply wondering if she had been thinking about this before he told her about that 'business trip' with Gwenda. He felt anger flaring inside of his chest as he thought of the woman who partially ruined his life. As he fumed in anger, Jade suggested that they watch a muggle movie together. He remembered that she had also asked about this during that week and their warm conversation about 'The Notebook' and how similar Draco was to the main character of the movie.
"Do you want to watch the Notebook?" Draco asked. He knew how much he hated that movie and rolled his eyes at how Jade cried throughout the entire movie and throughout the whole night, holding on to him dearly. Now that he thought about it, he found it incredibly endearing of her and wished that he would have made her feel better about it.
"The Notebook? But I thought you hated that movie!" Jade said. Jade needed to know exactly what it was that completely turned Draco into such a romantic. She absolutely loved this side of him but what was it that compelled him to suggest 'The Notebook'? He hated it as much as she loved it!
"Well I do hate that movie but I know you love it. And besides, you kept telling me how the main character reminded you of me in Hogwarts." He said as she laughed in embarrassment.
"You were a pain in the arse…well, before I started to like you." Jade said seeing him flash her his charming smile.
"You can't blame me at all. I really was hopelessly in love with you." he said hearing her chuckle.
"Are you still hopelessly in love with me now?" Jade asked seeing him think about it for a while.
"Hopelessly, helplessly, madly, deeply, truly." He said seeing her widening her eyes and let out an excited laugh.
As they watched 'The Notebook' in their muggle DVD player, Draco had to restrain himself from squirming uncomfortably in his seat. It was all quickly forgotten when he looked over to Jade to see the tender faces she made as she watched the movie. She'd usually play with his hands as she watched and pull herself closer whenever Noah and Allie would have their intimate moments. Just looking at her while watching the movie was joy enough, why couldn't he see this all before? How and why did he find her irritating before?
The film ended and Jade wiped the tears from her eyes from feeling so happy and incredibly sad for Noah and Allie at the end of the movie. She wanted the same ending for her and Draco. She wanted to grow old with him and still have the love for him as fresh as it was when they had first started. She knew her love with Draco wasn't all that perfect but nothing was meant to be perfect in life. This was just a movie but Jade wouldn't have been surprised if there were some people that had such a strong love between each other that could never be replaced no matter how long the years. Jade looked up to see Draco staring at her fondly, not realizing that the movie was over.
"Do you want to go to sleep?" Jade asked touching his chin. He shook his head and nodded towards the television and was surprised to see that the movie had ended.
"It's done? That forsaken movie is finished?" Draco asked as Jade laughed and lightly hit his chest.
"Didn't you notice?" Jade asked standing up from the sofa. She walked over to their multimedia player and shut everything off.
"I don't have the time to notice anything else when I'm with you." he said seeing her turn and smile.
"You never…you know…said that about me." She said. He walked over to her and picked her up into his arms.
"I should have earlier then." He told her. He carried her to their bedroom and placed her on their bed. Jade sat up and unbuttoned his shirt as he kissed her, trying to take his time and relish every living moment that was present between them. She slid his shirt off of him and raised her arms, grinning as he pulled her sweater off of her. He threw the sweater aside and crawled into bed with her, feeling that this was the greatest conceivable love there ever was.
