Chapter 13: A Notion Of Distance
{A/N: Here's Another Update...}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.
The Master Bedroom, The Sinclair Residence, Unknown Location, Unknown World...
Once more treated to the unyielding golden rays of the sun striking him in the face in terms of intensity, Severus Snape awoke to find himself alone in bed as Hermione had long been gone, he assumed that she was more or less busy with her errands and the children. Lying on his back until he found himself being driven to answer the call of nature. The house had been silent for the most part and there had been no sign of anyone to interfere as he managed to relieve himself and make his way out into the hall.
Try as he might, Snape couldn't get Hermione's words from the previous night out of his mind. She believed they were becoming distant, a fact that had been all the more true based on the reality of Severus Snape having taken the place of her actual husband whom by all accounts may have very well already been dead before he even got to this strange world.
"Bloody chit." he muttered finding his way down the narrow stairs and through the sitting room.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The Kitchen, The Sinclair Residence, Unknown World...
Snape sighed as he noted that the house he'd find himself awakening in ever since this nightmarish world came to his attention had indeed been empty. As he moved toward the counter in the kitchen he caught a glimpse of a note written by his so called wife in her usual girlish handwriting giving a solid explanation as to why that had been so.
Dear Sidney,
It had become apparent that you are in dire need of solitude given how often you take off in the middle of the day just to be away from your family. So I've decided to take the children to visit my parents. You needn't resort to nearly freezing to death just to get away from us as the house will be empty for the weekend. I don't really know how you have come to resent us so much when all we ever wished to do was love you but I bet it had something to do with your accident and it is my hope that once the side effects are over and done with you'd come to your senses and whatever this strange distance is that has come between us will be gone and you'll love us...love me as you had before...until that time enjoy your weekend solitude for whatever it will be worth to you.
Your ever concerned wife,
Hermione Sinclair.
Not in the least effected by the apparent pleading words of a young woman he simply had no time for, Snape balled the note up and tossed it unceremoniously into the rubbish bin.
He had barely made it to the cupboard in search of his usual mug to drink out of when a knock at the front door had gotten his attention. Snape rolled his eyes noting all too well that his wife's promise of peace for the weekend had been too much to hope for. He stalked toward the sitting room and opened the door expecting to find the woman on the other side with an excuse as to why she couldn't be away from him.
"What did you forget?" he began only to find himself startled by the appearance of Remus Lupin on the other side. "Lupin?"
"Sidney, where the hell have you been...and where is everyone?" asked Lupin looking around in shock.
"Hermione took the kids to visit her parents for the weekend." replied Snape with a yawn. "Why are you here?"
"Shouldn't you be spending as much time with your family as possible given your situation?" asked Lupin in confusion.
"She was gone when I awoke." replied Snape in a bored tone. "Not that I cared either way."
Lupin shook his head.
"Sidney, I understand that you are angry about what's to become of you but creating discord with your wife when you already have so little time with her is..." began the doctor.
"I DON'T NEED TO BE REMINDED OF AN IMPENDING DEATH FORCED UPON ME BY UNWAVERING IDIOCY!" growled Snape shocking Lupin as he threw his mug against the nearby wall. "DO YOU THINK KEEPING THIS FROM HER IS EASY, I'VE SPENT NEARLY TWO LIFETIMES KEEPING SECRETS AND BEING SEEN A LESS THAN HUMAN BECAUSE OF IT!"
Lupin had not understood where all of this was coming from but he attempted to.
"Then why not tell her so that she could support you?" he asked.
"The mere fact that you are foolish enough to believe that this wouldn't become another kept secret on her part proves you are not as brilliant as you seem to think you are." replied Snape. "This wouldn't be a means of support, it would only result in her struggling to keep the secret and maintain her life in the wake of her sorrow."
"Sidney, she loves you." reasoned Lupin.
"She is in love with an idea that I can never live up to." replied the suddenly weary man. "She's better off moving on with her life while she still can...I'd sooner see her hate me than be shattered by the loss of a man that never truly deserved her."
"Where is all of this coming from?" asked the rather confused doctor.
"It is a very realistic view of a situation I had no hand in creating." replied Snape almost bitterly. "She'll find some young bloke to occupy her time and she wouldn't give me a second thought."
Lupin sighed.
"Sidney is this what you are worried about?" he asked with an arched brow. "Hermione bloody loves you...she'd do anything to ensure you are happy and loved she nearly threw away her friendship with Harry just to be with you...perhaps if you could only remember."
"Well I can't." replied Snape bitterly. "So if you are done nagging I am feeling quite tired and would like to get some rest before everyone comes flooding back into the house."
Lupin sighed as sadness once more took hold of him.
"I still think you should tell her." he said as he walked toward the door. "You and I both know she deserves to know the truth about why her husband is apparently rejecting her."
"Better she feel a minor bit of pain now than to endure it for the rest of her life." muttered Snape. "As you have well documented, I am not long for this world."
Unable to fathom why Sidney had been so embittered, Lupin took his leave of him not wishing to get into a row with him given his condition.
Snape turned his attention to moving about the house in silence. It was a curious thing to note that without Hermione and the children around, it seemed as much a empty and utterly haunting place as the one he owned back in Cokeworth.
