A/N: It's not all sunshine and roses with Severus and Lily this chapter, but up first, a confrontation with James and the return of Harry and Azalea.

Chapter 12 Troubled Waters

Testing out Lily's charm for real was a risky proposition. Firstly, Severus had to clear out some space on the reserve for Lily to test the charm on an actual fire. Then, once they had sufficient room, she could try it out on a normal flame. Assuming it worked, they'd then move on to testing it on actual Fiendfyre. Unbeknownst to Lily, Severus had been practicing casting Fiendfyre, only in small amounts and slowly furthering his command over the fiendish flames little by little. After two weeks of trial and error in smaller amounts, Severus now felt confident that he could cast Fiendfyre properly, so he informed Lily he was ready for the final test. About a week before Harry and Azalea's scheduled return, Severus and Lily entered the proving grounds for what they hoped would be the final time. Severus brandished his Rowan-wood wand and flourished it in a wide arc, flames borne of dark magic shooting out the end and around them. He'd summoned Fiendfyre in all its hellish splendor, and though he kept the beast at bay for the moment, he didn't want Lily to wait any longer than was necessary to subdue the flames. Lily steeled herself, shut her eyes, and then cast her spell for the first time in anger.

Fiendfyre never stood a chance. The air above the flames was blasted away, and with no fuel to feed off of, the dark flames died in the blink of an eye. Though surrounded by the charred remains of earth and forest, Severus only had eyes for Lily in that moment. The look of unbridled joy on her face at the successful final test of her charm reduced his heart to putty. He couldn't help but smile back at her and was rewarded with perhaps the most radiant smile he'd ever seen her wear. Her project was finished, her charm worked like a, well, charm; and seeing the euphoric look on her face almost made Severus want to go to the ends of the earth for her.

Harry and Azalea's month away from their Mum and Uncle Sev was over as quickly as it'd began. While spending time with their Dad, Uncle Padfoot and Moony had been nice, they were soon hurtling their way across the Atlantic via portkey once more. In anticipation of their arrival, Lily flooed cross-country to meet them in New York. The return trip to Flagstaff would be made by airplane, and Severus said he'd meet them at the airport to pick them up. Lily made three consecutive floo jumps across the country from Flagstaff to Wichita to Indianapolis before arriving in New York. When she arrived at the Portkey terminal, she waited outside the arrival area where James, Harry and Azalea were due to arrive. MACUSA-workers bustled past her up and down the corridor, but the door opposite Lily through which her ex-husband and children would appear remained shut. The telltale whoosh of a Portkey arriving keyed her into James' arrival, and mere moments later the door opened revealing him, Harry and Azalea. Seeing her children smiling certainly was a sight for sore eyes, and for those precious first few seconds she only had eyes for her children and not the man stood behind them.

"Mummy!" They chorused in unison, dashing across the floor as Lily knelt down and swept Harry and Azalea up in a hug.

"Oh, we've missed you mummy!" Harry said joyously as he buried his head in his mum's shoulder.

"I've missed you two as well," said Lily clutching Harry and Azalea to her all the more tightly as she rubbed their backs in comfort.

James awkwardly cleared his throat, causing Lily to lift her gaze from her children to her ex-husband.

"James," she greeted neutrally, though with a hint of wariness as she glimpsed James' conflicted expression.

"Lily," he said in kind, though his jaw was clenched and his eyes narrowed. "Kids?"

"Yes daddy?" Harry replied, Azalea whirling about to face James at the sound of his voice.

"Have a seat on that bench over there, okay? Mummy and Daddy need to have a brief talk," said James, gesturing behind his two children at the bench Lily was just sat on.

"Okay," said Azalea, bobbing her head up and down.

Harry's eyes narrowed at the terse nature of his father's voice, but he nodded nonetheless without saying a word and wandered over to the bench after Azalea.

Lily allowed herself a brief moment to watch Harry conversing with his sister before turning back to her ex-husband.

"What do you want, James?" she asked neutrally, staring up at him with a blank expression.

James' jaw clenched. "Don't play dumb with me, Lily, you should know better than that," he muttered lowly. He wasn't in the mood for playing games, so Lily knew her efforts at stalling would bring her nowhere.

"So, you know about Severus then," she murmured quietly.

"Oh, I've heard quite a bit about Uncle Sniv over the past month, Lily. I've heard lots of things from Harry especially," James said scornfully. "I mean how could you, why would you choose to shack up with him of all people."

"Because he offered, and for your information, he's been an exceptionally gracious host and friend to me for the last few months I've been staying with him," Lily retorted in a low whisper.

James scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are you serious?" he asked witheringly. "You're telling me creepy old, Sniv hasn't made a move on you, yet? Hasn't tried to get in your—"

"—Don't call him that!" Lily's shout shook the halls of the underground corridor, startling Harry and Azalea even though they were a good ten meters away from them.

Azalea yelped slightly, but was quickly shushed and comforted by her brother who discreetly turned her away from their bickering parents. In the final months of Lily and James' marriage, it was a role Harry had performed admirably, doing his best to distract and comfort his little sister whenever he sensed an argument was brewing between his bickering mum and dad. Azalea didn't deserve to see the shouting matches her mum and dad frequently partook in, James and Lily's raised voices often causing Azalea to sob into her palms or into her brother's hugs. Lily paused, her lungs heaving raggedly as she waved a threatening finger in James' direction, her green eyes crackling with electricity.

"Do not call him that. And no, he hasn't made any move on me James, he's been the perfect gentleman if you must know."

"Why should I not call him that?" James countered, his dark, hazel eyes narrowed into slits. He took a step towards Lily, who promptly took one step backwards, James looked as menacing as he had been during their final fight. "You've called him that numerous times if my memory serves me well, and it does. And now you're defending that greasy, little oddball."

James wasn't lying, as much as Lily wished she could say he was. For he was right, she had referred to Sev as Snivellus on a few occasions. Granted, only once to his face right after he called her a mudblood, she believed she should be let off the hook just that one time; but she'd also callously referred to him by his degrading nickname in private to James and their friends when he was on the path to becoming a Death Eater. There was no refuting James' accusation, she had to own it.

"You're right I've called him that," Lily murmured regretfully. "But each and every time I've said it, or even thought of him in that way…I regret it immensely, for I was wrong about Severus. And you are wrong too, James, you were wrong then and you still are now. You just insist on keeping your head buried in the sand because you're far too prideful to admit you're wrong about Severus, or about anything for that matter! Severus has been nothing but great to me and our children ever since I turned up on his doorstep asking for a place to stay with Harry and Azalea."

"Oh, he has, has he?" James sneered. "Come off it Lily, every boy in Hogwarts and their mother knew that Sniv—Snape's been trying to get into your pants for years. He's obsessed with you, that creep is, and now…now you've gone shacked up with him in the middle of nowhere, what're you gonna do next? Spread your legs for—"

James never finished his sentence, for a loud slap reverberated down the corridor. A throbbing, red handprint remained on James' face; and Lily's glare was as frightening as James had ever seen it.

"Let me get one thing straight," Lily seethed, speaking so softly, yet so menacingly, James' blood ran cold as Lily's river of icy consonants flowed through him. "I do not have to justify myself to you, or to anyone else for that matter, even Severus. So, you'd better fucking stay out of my personal matters. Do you understand? And no, no he hasn't tried anything of the sort, so shut up with your baseless accusations about him." Her eyes were narrowed with contempt, belied by the whisper with which she spoke. James had hardly seen her this angry except during the war and when their fight to end all fights occurred just before their marriage broke down.

"I don't give a shit about who you shack up with, Lily," James said in a waspish whisper. "But I do care about the well-being of my Harry and Azalea. If that conniving little shit even threatens a hair on their heads, even thinks about hurting them, then I swear I'll—"

"—you can have what's left of him after I'm through with him," Lily snarled, not even bothering to hide her contempt now. "Now stay the fuck out of my life and leave. Me. Alone."

That seemed to restore some color to James' face, but her ex's glare was still as angry as ever as he shouldered past her to where their children were sat. He wiped the anger off his face as he knelt down before his two, apprehensive-looking children.

"C'mere kiddos, give daddy a hug, yeah?"

"Okay dad," said Harry, hugging James around the neck as Azalea hugged him too around the waist.

"I'll miss you guys lots. Behave yourselves for your mum, alright? And make sure to give Uncle Sniv some trouble—"

"—James!" Lily barked.

"Ignore her," said James with a broad smile. James' smile turned pained as he gazed at his son, his mirror in all but eyes and age. "Have fun, okay? And…and all kidding aside, be good for your mum, like you were for me and your uncles."

"Can you come visit us? The birdies are so cool, you just have to see them!" Harry asked eagerly, his tone so hopeful, James' heart ached at the sound.

"You'll have to ask Snape that, it's…well, it's his home. And me and Snape haven't gotten along all that well before," he said solemnly.

"We'll ask him for you, daddy," Azalea promised, her hazel eyes wide and eager. "We'll—we want you to meet the birdies too!"

The idea of setting foot into Snape's home, even if only for a second or two sickened James, yet he couldn't bring himself to hurt Azalea's eagerness and earnestness by sharing his own feelings, so he settled for a half-truth. "We'll see, sweetpea, we'll see," he said with a tight smile, though he knew deep down hell would sooner freeze over than him willingly going to ole' Snivels' home.

Azalea beamed at her father and planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. James chuckled fondly and stroked her hair, before stepping away and standing to his full height. "I'll be off now kiddos, see you all in the spring, alright?"

"We'll miss you daddy!"

"I love you daddy!"

James' smile was genuine and blinding. "I love you too, Harry, Azalea. I'll see you both soon."

With that, James turned around to head back through the door he'd come through. But before that, he walked over to Lily and stuffed his hands in his robe pockets. Lily knew what he was doing and held out her hand expectantly, allowing James to deposit the four, shrunken luggage bags she'd given him a month ago. James shot Lily one more mournful look, then, shaking his head, he walked past her. Lily couldn't quite let him leave on that note, not with the last words she'd spoken to him being borne of anger and disgust.

"James, just—just wait a moment, please," Lily said, hoping she sounded sincere and genuine.

"What?" He turned around and gave her an unimpressed look.

"Sev's buried the hatchet with you. He's…he's said he no longer hates you…and he's—it wasn't easy for him…to move past his anger of you, to—"

"—get to the point Lily, I don't have time to listen to you wax poetical about Snape's virtues," James growled.

Lily closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, opening them again to stare right at the handsome features of her former love. "If you do the same, it'll set you free," she said quietly, without a hint of scorn or judgement. "If you…if you can let go, and I implore you to, it'll set you free, like it's done for Severus…and—and me."

James' blank expression quickly gave way to one of realization, before finally settling on resignation.

"Let go of us, James. Just…do it for yourself. Please."

James understood Lily's message for what it was. Not only had Severus moved on from his hatred of him, but Lily was moving on to from the shattered remains of their marriage. As far as marital splits go, there's had been equal parts amicable and contentious; but Lily's words resonated loudly with James that their time together had well and truly run its course.

With that, Lily turned away. She placed the shrunken bags into her pocket and cast James one last look. Though her heart thudded painfully in her chest, she ignored his pleading eyes on her back as she placed one palm each on Harry and Azalea's backs, guiding them down the corridor away from their father. At reaching the end of the corridor, Lily turned back one last time and regarded James with a small frown, though when James nodded it morphed into a smile. She then turned the corner and together with her children she vanished from sight.

"I'm tired mummy, can we go home?"

Harry's continued reference of the reserve as home never failed to bring a smile to Lily's face. Seeing and hearing that her children so easily embraced this change in their lives was a source of constant happiness for Lily.

"We're heading home now, sweetie," said Lily. "We'll be home soon enough."

Harry smiled happily and melted into his mother's side. Azalea hugged her mother tightly too in search of her touch.

Four hours later, United Airlines Flight 357 touched down in Flagstaff, and like how it was six months ago, Severus was waiting for Lily and her children just outside the arrivals terminal. There was far greater familiarity this time around when Severus greeted Lily, Harry and Azalea, affable smiles and hugs being exchanged easily. But when Severus glanced in Lily's direction, he felt a sense of pensiveness, even nervousness, radiating off of her. Her hastily-averted glances, the tightness of her jaw, Severus knew from that alone that something was amiss with Lily. He could only hope and pray that it was something as minor as turbulence on the flight, or lack of in-flight refreshments rather than something more serious. In any case, Harry and Azalea seemed happy enough, which lead Severus to believe that whatever it was that was troubling Lily, was clearly something exclusive to her. Severus silently avowed to get to the bottom of it once they returned home. For now, he helped Lily lift their luggage into the bed of his truck and hoisted her children up into the rear-cabin and buckled them up. Once they were all in, Lily thanked him with a somewhat-strained smile and the quartet set off for the Sanctuary.

Lily wasn't in the mood for music, and with Harry and Azalea nodding off from fatigue, they drove home in almost complete silence.

When they arrived back at the Sanctuary, Lily woke both her children up and guided them into the house while Severus helped with the Luggage.

"I'll—erm, I'm gonna go freshen them up, Severus," Lily said, to which Severus nodded. "Do you need any help with din—"

"—Poesy should be finished soon if she hasn't already," Severus replied.

Lily breathed a silent sigh of gratitude. "Right then. Well, I'll see you in a while."

With that, she entered the house with Harry and Azalea groggily trailing in her wake. Severus followed them in but instead of heading upstairs, he traipsed right into his sitting room where he sat down in his usual armchair.

Dinner passed in tense silence, the usual chatter spouting forth from Harry lacking today as the boy already began to suffer from jet-lag. Azalea nodded off several times throughout the meal and by eight o'clock, both Harry and Azalea were asleep in their chairs.

"I'll put these two to bed," Lily said, standing from her chair.

"I'll come with you," Severus said quickly, Lily's eyes widening in surprise as a result. "You…don't mind, right?"

"Oh! Oh, no, not at all. You're…most welcome to come and help," Lily said gratefully.

Severus asked Poesy to pack away the left-overs of their meal and to clean the dishes while he and Lily brought Harry and Azalea upstairs. Severus watched on as Lily cast gentle, mouth-cleansing charms on both of them, tucking them in one by one into their rooms. She forwent their usual bedtime stories seeing as they were both fast asleep, and after switching the light off in Harry's room and shutting the door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's been something bothering you," Severus stated, leaving no room for doubt as to his assumptions.

Lily sighed again and then turned around to face him. "Yes," she acknowledged. "Can we talk about it tomorrow? I'm—" she gave another sigh, "—the meeting didn't go so well…and to be quite frank, I'm a little bit tired."

Severus looked as if he wanted to say more, but didn't, silently accepting her wishes. "Alright then," he said after a pregnant pause. "We'll discuss this tomorrow."

He made to turn away, but the touch of Lily's hand on his forearm gave him pause. She inclined her head to her room just across the hall and gave him a hopeful look.

Severus took a moment to digest her request, they hadn't shared a bed since that night when she was sobbing in her bed over a photo album on the anniversary of McKinnon's death. During the time since he'd certainly wondered whether or not he'd be welcome back there, but he didn't push any boundaries and neither did Lily.

"Severus?" Lily asked hopefully, which drew Severus to the surface from the depths of his musings. Her green eyes wide and earnest, he couldn't bring himself to deny her. He nodded.

"I'll be with you soon," he promised, before withdrawing his warm and walking away down the hall to his room.

With sunrise, came the promise of having their discussion at long-last over what'd happened in New York. Severus woke bright and early as per usual and went about his morning duties meeting with Frank and addressing his Rangers at their lodge. After overseeing his birds' morning meal and the release of the flock from the stables, he returned to the farmhouse. Harry and Azalea were still fast asleep, their Portkey taking a lot out of them and causing them to sleep in, not to mention the fact that they were now several hours behind England here in the Mid-west. Lily, however, was awake, and she was sat in her usual spot at the kitchen table. What followed was a mostly-silent, but cordial breakfast. Severus ate his food quickly but Lily took aeons with each bite, frustrating Severus to no end. He sat there in stony silence waiting for Lily to finish her bagels and salmon before at long last, she did, and banished plate to the kitchen sink where Poesy would clean it.

"I believe I owe you an explanation, don't I?" Lily murmured quietly

"Yes, I believe you do."

"Very well, then." Lily took a swig of her coffee and then raised her gaze from the floral tablecloth to meet the eyes of the man sat across from her.

"James knows."

For a long moment silence reined supreme. Severus took a long draw of his coffee and then expelled a sigh, but he didn't speak. Lily was quite flummoxed to say the least, she expected anger, outrage, at least some semblance of vitriol, but there was nothing.

"Well?"

"What do you want me to say?" Severus asked drily. "This is what I've wanted since the beginning. For Potter to know of whom you're staying with. And now that he knows—" he paused, taking another sip and shrugging his shoulders, "—that's fine by me. As long as he's aware that he'll never be welcome here."

"Here…as in your reserve?"

"Obviously," he drawled, shooting Lily a sarcastic look. "Don't tell me you really thought I'd ever welcome Potter here, that's never going to happen."

"But, I thought you'd said you'd forgiven him for—"

"—I have," said Severus curtly, interrupting Lily with a stiff glare. "But there's a big difference between forgiveness and actively wanting to associate with him again. All of my work healing myself could be thrown out the window if he were to come here, and I could just as easily lapse back into despising him once again. I…if you ever hope for reconciliation between myself and Potter, that'll never happen, Lily. I can forgive him if he remains afar…but you ask too much if you think I'd ever welcome him here."

"And if Harry and Azalea were to—"

"—The answer would still be no."

Lily huffed a sigh but didn't say anything further, knowing it'd be pointless to argue this when Severus was so adamant it would never happen. Deep down, she couldn't blame him for feeling that way, knowing what she knew now about Severus and James' grudge in school she knew she was asking for too much yet she asked all the same.

"I take it your meeting with Potter yesterday didn't go well?" Severus asked, breaking the temporary silence.

Lily bit back a grimace and nodded. Lines of frustration superseded her youthful features.

"What happened?" Severus asked urgently, leaning forward slightly with his eyes trained intently on Lily's.

"We had a shouting match in the middle of a corridor," Lily explained. "I said some things…he said somethings, and then I slapped him."

Severus' brow arched in surprise. "I think I'd pay good money to see that," he joked.

Lily tried and failed to suppress a small smile, though she succeeded in biting back her chortle.

"It wasn't pretty," Lily said, sobering. "And no, before you ask, I'm not going to tell you what he said to me that set me off."

Severus held up his hands in a placating gesture. "Wasn't even thinking about it."

"Sure you weren't," she scoffed.

With the potential crisis averted, Lily and Severus' conversation returned to more familiar territory. Lily was in final preparation to present her spell to a local MACUSA patents office, and should it pass all the verification checks, she knew she'd be compensated with a hefty sum of galleons for her efforts.

Unfortunately, a few days later, Severus received a letter in the mail that sought to derail the progress he'd made with Lily. It was a warm afternoon and Severus was in his office when his fireplace flared green and an envelope shot out of it onto his desk. Lily was upstairs supervising Harry and Azalea's studies, leaving Severus alone downstairs. Which was just as well considering his severe reaction to reading the damned letter. It was a letter from James Potter, which in and of itself was bad news to Severus; but on the letter, the Potter scion described all the terrible things he'd do in vivid detail if he 'dared to hurt Harry, Azalea, or Lily.' Severus never knew he could get angry so quickly, but then again he learned something new about himself every day. In the blink of an eye, he crumpled the letter and hurled it across the room, then slammed open his door with a bang and stormed out of his office. Lily heard the door slam downstairs, and fearing for the worst, she quickly instructed Harry and Azalea to remain where they were and dashed down the stairs following the stomping footsteps as they headed for the front door. Lily reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the front door slam shut and could hear Severus' echoing stomps on the other side of the door as he descended the porch.

"Fuck!" Severus screamed on the other side of the door, and there was no sound-muffling charm in place to mask his obscenity to her, or her children's ears. She quickly burst out through the front door after him and put up his sound muffling charm to muffle any more obscenities she knew he'd spew.

"Severus!"

Severus whirled around to face Lily, pure anguish and rage fixed on his features. His arm trembled outstretched as he held the letter in his grasp. "Look at this!" he shouted, his voice trembling, but there was no mistaking the sheer rage and vitriol in his tone. Lily's eyes darted to the semi-crumpled letter, recognizing almost instantly that the writing was James'.

"Look at what that—that bastard wrote to me!"

Lily snatched it from his palm and began to read it.

Snape,

I know Lily, Harry and Azalea are living with you, and yes, I know where you live as well. Don't bother asking how, since that's irrelevant to you.

I love my children dearly and would move heaven and earth for them. So, if I hear you've harmed a hair on either of their heads then Merlin help you, I'll come after you with a vengeance and end your pathetic existence. Harry and Azalea's well-being is of paramount importance to me, so you'd better treat them well or you'll come to regret it immensely.

Regarding Lily, I don't know what's gotten into her to have chosen to shack up with you, but she'll come around soon enough. Treasure your time with her Snivellus, we both know it'll be at an end soon once she comes to her senses. Even if we don't get back together, she's far better off with almost anyone other than you, Snape.

Kind Regards(not really),

James Fleamont Potter

Lily tore the letter into shreds, but across from her, Severus stood still but shaking with rage. "He…he threatened me, he knows where I fucking live…he had the gall to suggest that he'd kill me…I—what the fuck is this, Lily?" Severus shouted hoarsely.

"James—he never mentioned he knew where you lived," Lily insisted, her tone pleading. "Sev, please…I swear, he never mentioned it! He—all he said was that he knew I was living with you, that's it!"

"Then how the fuck did this happen?" Severus roared, spittle flying from his mouth. His screech caused Lily to flinch back and a shadow of hurt to cross her face. He pointed at the shredded bits of paper on the gravel, his anger cooling slightly only to be replaced by despair. "How did this happen? How did he…you said you didn't tell him—" Lily nodded fervently, "—then how, in the fuck, was he able to—to send me this?"

"I don't know," Lily murmured quietly.

Severus reared back, but before he could retort Lily was speaking again. "He's…James is powerful, he's got connections, so presumably one of them told him, if I were to hazard a guess."

"Then I'll have to obliviate him then," Severus muttered. He'd intended to keep that tidbit of information to himself, but evidently he was a little too loud since Lily gasped, horrorstruck at his suggestion.

"What?" Lily shouted, incredulity etched into her features.

Severus' dark eyes bored into Lily's coldly, chilling her to the bone. "I said I'll have to obliviate him then. He threatened to kill me Lily, if I do something he deems non-permissible. I have to do something, he can't get away with—"

"—You can't Sev," Lily said urgently, stepping closer to him but stopping short of putting her hand on his arm. "He's…James is powerful, you can't hope to try that. He's—"

"—I've kicked his arse one-on-one more times than I can count," Severus growled, his lips curled back in a sneer that wouldn't have looked out of place on his face ten years ago. "He's not the hot shit he claims to be, always relying on Black and Pettigrew to back him up so he can stand a chance against me. I'll fucking kick his arse then obliviate him so he can't send me shite like this anymore."

Lily shook her head despondently, Severus' dark brows furrowing as he met her gaze. "He's…not the same now. He's an Auror, Sev, he's gotten much stronger since our school days and fights dark wizards for a living, fighting you would be no different."

"Are you calling me a dark wizard?" Severus asked, his nostrils flaring.

"No, I'm not, but I said fighting someone like you would be no different to James," she said sharply. "And in any case…the ethics involved of wiping someone's memory—that's…that's horrible, Sev—how could you even…" Lily's voice trailed off into silence as she glimpsed the murderous look on Severus' face.

Evidently, it'd been the wrong thing to say, for Severus' lips had curled into a snarl of epic proportions.

"So, wiping someone's memory is horrible and a moral dilemma to you, but your ex threatening to kill me is perfectly acceptable?"

"No, it's not acceptable Severus, it's despicable what James wrote to you," said Lily, rising to Severus' vitriol. "It's worse, except I don't see a James Potter lurking about here who I can shout at!"

Lily knew she was making quite the scene, her cheeks inflamed a bright, cherry red of anger. Her lungs huffing and puffing as if she'd just run a mile. And her hands balled up into fists at her sides. She knew Severus was just as angry as she was, but by contrast he appeared starkly calm.

"I…came here to get away from all of that…all of the misery and disappointment my old life heaped on my shoulders," said Severus, speaking uncannily quiet compared to his shouting mere moments ago. "I wanted to get away from all of it—to start fresh, anew, here." He met her gaze then, but there was darkness in his eyes that Lily hadn't seen since they were kids, certainly not since they'd reunited all those months ago.

"If I'd known…that Potter would be involved in my life once again, by—by having you back in my life…I'd never have allowed you to come here—"

"—Severus…"

"Shut up!" he shouted. Lily flinched, her eyes screwing shut for a long second.

"He knows where I live, the bastard wrote me a fucking letter threatening me," Severus said hoarsely. He gestured broadly at the trees around him, "and threatening all that I have.

"Or maybe I'm the fool…maybe it's me who's at fault for thinking that having you in my life, Lily, wouldn't bring Potter along for the ride. Maybe I should blame myself for thinking I could somehow befriend you again and keep Potter out of it. Maybe it's all—"

"—It's not," said Lily, her interruption coming as a surprise to Severus whose eyes widened and his speech stopped.

"James won't try a damn thing," Lily went on, sounding entirely self-assured. He opened his mouth to reply but an imploring look and a raised hand from her stopped him in his tracks. "I know you won't like to hear this Sev, but I know him, quite well at that. And all this is—" she gestured at the shredded bits of paper on the gravel between them, "—is an attempt to rile us up. And on the off-chance that he is perfectly serious…" Lily's hardened emerald eyes met his gaze then, "—I'll set him straight and he won't do a goddamned thing."

"For both our sake's I hope you're right about him," Severus murmured, his voice severe. He sighed then, and from it Lily could gleam that his anger had mostly abated into dejectedness. "I'm sorry about what I said…about—about you coming back into my life…I didn't mean that, and I'm sorry you had to hear it. I don't think that, and you've made my life so much better since—"

"—It's alright," Lily assured him, though to Severus she didn't sound all that convincing. "You said it in the heat of the moment…and there have been things I've said in the heat of the moment I didn't mean so I'd be a hypocrite for holding it against you. I forgive you."

"I've made a habit of doing that…of saying things I don't believe when I'm angry," Severus muttered, trying to add some levity to the situation. Lily knew what Severus was referencing, and for his efforts she gave him a smile.

"Yeah, well, like I said, I've done the same.

"We're two peas in a pod, like that," she chuckled, trying to inject some humor into their situation.

Severus' onyx gaze came to rest on Lily's again, a silent question dancing about in his irises that Lily nodded to. Relief washed over his features before walking closer to her and hugging her about the shoulders. Lily remained slack in Severus' arms for a moment before returning Severus' embrace by hugging him around the waist. Severus oftentimes lacked the tendency to initiate physical contact, so Lily cherished the moment and sighed happily into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Severus repeated, his nose and lips buried in Lily's thick mane of auburn.

"I forgive you." Those three words were a balm to his perturbed soul, and his eyes couldn't help but water and trickle down his cheeks into her hair.

A few hours later, Lily and Severus were back indoors in the latter's sitting room. After a brief cry outdoors and murmured apologies passing between them, Severus apologizing for his hurtful words, and Lily for James' paper threat to Severus, they'd come inside and gone their separate ways. Severus still needed some time to cool off, and after a half-hour of meditation in his office and drinking a calming draught, he felt much better about himself. The cracked rune-stone had already been replaced and the enchantments of the reserve were as strong as ever now, logically speaking, he had nothing to fear of Potter's involvement. If what Lily said was true, and she was correct more often than not on matters such as this, James' threat was as empty as an unused vase and he'd only sent the letter to get a rise out of Severus. But even if James' threat was as insubstantial as thin-air, Severus still didn't like the fact that Potter knew where he lived, a though which Lily could spare more sympathy to now than she did outside. After going their separate ways for half an hour, they reconvened in the sitting room having calmed their emotions to hash things out in a civilized manner.

What followed was an hour-long discussion with minimal shouting and raising of voices—a win in both their opinions, and a resolution regarding James being aware of where Severus lived. For now, they would do nothing, for James was gone and had already returned to England, but Severus decided now was a good time to purchase more rune-stones to bolster the enchantments around the property. It was already impossible to apparate around the grounds unless you were a member of staff or a resident, and the rune-stones powered the enchantments that kept out Muggles and other unwanted witches or wizards. All that being said, Severus still didn't want to take any chances, and even if James had no intention of ever setting foot in Arizona, he wanted to be doubly sure the man could never come into his life once again. Lily agreed that Severus' measures were sound based on her knowledge of enchantments and runes, but she still adamantly believed that James was bluffing and that her ex had no intention of acting on his knowledge of where Severus lived beyond sending the odd letter here or there. By evening time, Severus and Lily felt much better and were mostly on the same page.

Severus ended up taking over cooking duties for the evening, reliving Poesy of her work and preparing some shepherds pie for Lily, Harry, Azalea and himself. Even so, he still felt as though he should do more to make it up to Lily after what he'd said to her earlier. She helped her put Harry and Azalea to bed, easy work for the pair of them since the five and three year old were still afflicted with jet-lag. With Harry and Azalea fast asleep in their beds, Lily and Severus headed back downstairs to watch a quiet movie for the evening. They flipped through the channels but eventually decided on a silly romantic-comedy at Lily's insistence. Although Severus offered up some token resistance to Lily's eager choice, deep down he didn't mind it in the least and he hoped the corny romcom would help take his mind off his troubles. As they sat there watching the movie, Severus silently avowed to himself that he'd do more for Lily to make it up to her going forward. He wouldn't let his words uttered in the heat of the moment today define her thoughts of him and he strived to do whatever it took to make it up to her. Entirely unbeknownst to him though, Lily was thinking the exact same thing.

To his surprise, he heard a shuffling noise from his left only to notice Lily shifting nearer to him and eventually laying her head down on his shoulder. To say Severus was surprised would've been a gross understatement, for he was all but certain that she'd have wanted to keep her distance in the physical sense at least. Severus couldn't deny that it did fill him with a sense of hope, however, that through the rough-patches and troubled times to come in their new relationship, they'd be able to work through them all side-by-side.

A/N2: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!