A/N: Hello there! I deeply apologize for going so long without an update, this chapter has just proved a bit hard to write. On the bright side, it's 5,000+ words of fluff and angst and all the other good stuff:) I've been so touched by how well you've all received this story. This ended up being a tad longer than I'd originally planned on, but I thought it was important to unpack some of the emotional baggage that comes with genuinely believing your loved one to be dead.

I hope that you're all safe and well! xx

As far as Scorpius knew, Christmas eve was meant to be quite the day. In years past, he'd enjoyed a lie-in with his girlfriend - now wife - and spent the day putting finishing touches on gifts. Even when he'd been at Hogwarts he'd managed to see Rose, always popping 'round to the Burrow if only for a few hours.

Not this year though. No. Christmas eve had quite possibly been the worst day of Scorpius's life and it was all because of his stupid fucking cat. The pathetically matted furball had 'accidentally' tripped on the cord of his alarm clock meaning that he hadn't woken up until almost noon. Unlike years past, he hadn't been able to enjoy sleeping in because upon opening his eyes and seeing daylight, he realized in a single terrifying moment that he was hours late to work.

His boss had been furious and he'd been forced to sit through a lecture about punctuality. It was truly mind-boggling to him how he could be a senior healer and still get treated like a trainee, but he supposed that that was what happened when one was 6 hours late for their shift.

He spent his day on the fourth floor working with spell damage. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how one chooses to look at it, the day had been painfully slow; his most exciting patient was a woman who'd somehow merged a baby blast-ended skrewt with her left elbow.

As the sky became darker and the clock inched towards midnight, Scorpius resigned himself to working the night shift in hopes of getting back in his boss's good graces. It's not like he had much to go home to anyway. Come morning, he'd drink tea in bed with the cat, spend the afternoon with his parents, and the evening with his wife's family which was sure to be a disheartening occasion seeing as said wife was meant to have been home from Estonia nearly two weeks prior. Two Sundays ago he had spent the entire day tidying their flat and cooking a large meal only to be left waiting well into the morning when he'd received a hurried letter from her saying that it would still be a few days yet.

His initial reaction was frustration; a disappointing sort of anger that sent him apparating straight to Al's house in the middle of the night. The bespectacled man had of course fixed his friend a cup of tea and listened as he fumed. The sun had already risen before Scorpius tired himself out and his best mate told him to quit being an impatient plonker and allow Rose to continue working guilt-free.

He of course knew that he was being ridiculous, but it had been well over three months since he'd so much as heard Rose's voice and he was going mad with anticipation.

He was torn from his thoughts at the sound of his colleagues cheering in the next room, yelling a quick 'Happy Christmas' to each other as the clock struck midnight. His heart twisted painfully as he imagined Rose sitting in a cave somewhere. Christmas was her favorite holiday and of course, she would be missing it.

He ignored the sense of longing in his chest and busied himself with more paperwork, trying and failing to push thoughts of Rose from his mind. Surely she'd be home before the new year. They could spend the night just the two of them, watching fireworks from the roof of their flat.

He spent the rest of his shift fantasizing about champagne and midnight kisses, feeling plenty pathetic and homesick for the one person that made things feel alright.

It had been one hundred and something odd days since Rose had slept in a proper bed. She'd gotten used to cots, uncomfortable folding chairs, even the inside of a tiny cave right on the edge of Russia. The idea of a full night's sleep seemed foreign to her and after a bit of time, her body had adjusted to the lack of rest. Something she refused to adjust to though was the lack of showering. She'd used cleansing charms and jumped into whatever river was nearest when given the chance, but truly, she was quite disgusted with herself. How was she supposed to greet her husband in a few hour's time looking and smelling like she'd been living in a sewer? She had half a mind to stop by Al's and use his shower before flooing to her own home but there was no way that she could see anyone besides Scorpius first. Surely he'd be able to bypass the smell if it meant finally seeing her, right?

She'd grabbed on to her portkey in such a rush of excitement that she'd nearly dropped it. After arriving at the Ministry, she flooed directly to their flat, not even thinking to warn Scorpius of her coming. She was just too eager, too excited to see him and feel him and hear his voice. She stumbled out of the floo coughing up a storm, eyes watering from being twisted through time.

Heart beating madly, she looked around their tiny living room expecting to see white blonde hair and startling grey eyes staring back at her. She hadn't checked the date but had thought it was a Sunday which typically meant that Scorpius wouldn't be working. Upon searching every room of their flat, she disappointingly realized that she was very much alone.

Maybe she was wrong and it was actually a Monday. He always pulled the night shift on Mondays. Racing to the calendar that they kept in the kitchen, she tripped over something white and landed on the floor with a groan, finding herself face to face with something that resembled what could be a cat.

"You must be Ophelia," she said, voice hushed in excitement.

Thoughts of finding Scorpius temporarily ceased as she pulled the white ball of horribly matted fur into her lap, talking and cooing at the thing like it was her own flesh and blood.

"Scorpius was right," she said aloud with a laugh. "You are a bit ugly."

At that, the cat wiggled out of her clutches and trotted back to the kitchen, reminding Rose of her previous task. She pulled herself to her feet and walked to the calendar. Looking at it warily, she concluded that her eyes must be deceiving her.

Christmas eve? There was no way; surely Scorpius had marked the date wrong. Turning around, she looked at the clock hanging over their sink and gasped again. It was half-past midnight which meant that she had been right after all. It wasn't Christmas eve. Even worse.

It was Christmas.

Instantly her heart began to ache. If Scorpius wasn't home then that must mean that he was working. Working on Christmas? She hadn't heard of anything so sad. It also meant that she was a lot later arriving home than she'd originally thought. She didn't even want to imagine how upset he must be.

Slowly, she walked through their flat again and noticed things she hadn't the first time. A tree had been put up haphazardly in the corner of the sitting room. It wasn't the prettiest thing she'd ever seen, but her heart swelled at the sight of its trimmings and the shoddily wrapped presents underneath it. Both of their stockings had been hung on the fireplace and her eyes misted over at the sight of a small stocking with a paw print sewn onto it. She recognized the stitching as her nana's and a pang of longing shot through her. Merlin, she missed her family.

Her eyes lingered on the bit of mistletoe stuck above the door to their room and she sighed, not even bothering to wipe away the tears sliding down her cheeks. The thought of Scorpius doing all of this on his own both thrilled and devastated her. Her chest physically ached with the pain of missing him and she suddenly couldn't take it anymore.

Gone was the idea of waiting for his arrival. She was going to him. Her hand was already in the pouch of floo powder before she remembered what she looked and smelled like. In a flurry of flailing limbs and dirty clothes Rose made it in and out of the shower in record time; unable to fully enjoy the warm water encasing her due to the fact that her stupid heart was beating too fast.

She quickly toweled herself off and set a drying spell over her hair. Rummaging through what clothes she hadn't brought with her to Estonia she managed to pull on a pair of joggers and an old flannel of Scorpius's. Checking the clock she was pleased to see that it was only 1:00. When pulling the night shift Scorpius usually stayed until 6:30 but she figured that this would be a good enough reason for his supervisor to let him leave.

She stumbled out of the floo in an excited rush, looking quickly to either side of the large waiting room of St. Mungos. Of course, he wasn't in the lobby, why would he be? The receptionist who was smacking her gum rather loudly glanced at Rose in a bored manner as she approached the desk quickly.

"Can I help you?" The young girl asked as she flipped through her copy of Witch Weekly.

"I'm here to see my husband. Do you have any idea where he might be?" Rose asked, choosing to ignore the blatant rudeness of the girl who looked barely out of Hogwarts. Not even some bitchy teenager was going to ruin this night for her.

The girl rolled her eyes petulantly as if being asked to do her job was an inconvenience. "Name?"

"Malfoy," Rose answered. When the girl just looked at her blankly Rose rolled her eyes. "He's one of the lead healers here. I just need to know what floor he's working on today."

"Oh, you mean Scorpius," the girl said in a delighted tone that made Rose's insides twist in disgust. "Yeah, I know him."

"I'm sure you do. Now could you please just tell me where I can find him?" Rose asked, eyes flashing angrily.

"We're not supposed to let random people onto the wards, miss," the girl said with a smirk.

Rose narrowed her eyes at this and straightened her shoulders. "Well," she began, the venom evident in her voice. "Seeing as I'm his wife, I'm sure you can make an exception. And if not, I'm sure that Scorpius would just love to hear about how his newest hire has caused me so much trouble. Now tell me, do we still have an issue here?"

The girl opened and closed her mouth several times before answering. "He's on the fourth floor."

Rose smiled sweetly and turned to walk away. She was almost at the end of the hallway before she turned over her shoulder. "Oh, and I'm fairly sure that you're to refer to him as Healer Malfoy. I wouldn't want anyone to hear me make that slip up if I were you."

The girl's eyes widened in shock and before she could respond, Rose was gone. Normally she would feel terrible about being so short with a stranger but after nearly four months of not so much as looking at her husband, she felt vindicated.

Her hands were shaking with anticipation as she rode the elevator to the fourth floor. The doors had hardly opened before she slipped through and strode into the main hall, eyes searching eagerly for him. Her heart sank as the hall appeared to be empty. Was she really going to have to go room to room to ask random patients if they'd seen him? She was about to enter the nearest room when a voice called out from behind her.

"Rose?"

She whipped around so fast her ponytail hit her square in the face. Blue eyes wide in disbelief, she took him in the man in front of her. It was clear he hadn't been sleeping properly. He was much too thin, his lime-green robes looking particularly loose on him, and was well in need of a shave. His normally pristine hair was disheveled and the tiniest bit overgrown and his jaw hung open loosely at the sight of her.

But it was Scorpius, her Scorpius, and he was so wonderfully beautiful that her breath caught at just looking at him: the sharp cut of his jaw, the fullness of his lips, the brightness of his eyes. She tackled him in a flurry of red hair sending him flying backward. His gasp of pain was forgotten, his breath restored as he realized what was happening.

Rose.

Here.

In his arms.

He hardly registered the burning sensation in his eyes as he hugged her tightly, unable to believe that she was really there.

She pulled away from his chest and grasped his face in her hands clumsily, his stubble rough against her palms. She needed to feel him, to comprehend that this was real. Staring into his eyes which were wide and swimming with tears, it was all she could do to not jump him right there and demand that he take his clothes off immediately.

"Happy Christmas, love," she breathed, smiling so wide that she thought she might burst.

It didn't matter that they were on the floor of a hospital, that patients had begun sticking their heads out of their rooms to see what all the ruckus was about, that his supervisor had just rounded the corner. Scorpius thought of none of these things as he pressed his lips to hers. He reveled in the weight of her atop his lap, unable to believe that this was truly happening. Rose was here in his arms, kissing him back with a ferocity he'd forgotten she possessed and everything was finally okay.

"Healer Malfoy," a sharp voice cut in, interrupting their bliss.

Scorpius sighed against her lips and closed his eyes tightly, preparing himself for the lecture he was about to receive.

"Yes sir?" He responded wearily.

To his utter surprise, the older man was grinning. "Go home and don't come back until after the new year. It looks like the two of you have a bit of catching up to do."

Rose flushed at this but Scorpius only laughed. Disentangling himself from her, he got to his feet and helped her up.

"You're right," Scorpius grinned. "We do. Thank you sir, and have a happy holiday."

It wasn't until the older man had nodded and rounded the corner that the pair looked back to each other, immediately bursting into peals of laughter. They sobered quickly though as Scorpius threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed gently.

"I can't believe that you're finally here," he said softly.

Without another word she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her head in chest. He hugged her back tightly, arms settled firmly around her waist, holding on as if he'd never let go. They stayed like that for a moment, breathing in one another, relishing in the fact that they were home.

But suddenly, Rose remembered her surroundings, that they were still in the middle of St. Mungos amongst sick patients and clinical white walls. She pulled away gently and pulled on the front of his robes, reaching on her toes to bring her lips to his ear.

"I believe you were just ordered by your boss to catch up with me," she whispered into his neck, smirking as he shivered slightly.

All it took was the brief touch of her lips to spot right underneath his ear for his mind to go somewhere that wasn't particularly appropriate for work. Grabbing her hand in his he drug her to his office where they somehow managed to stumble through the floo one at a time.

The second Rose stepped into the living room his arms were around her, her lips moving fervently against his own. It was like he was sixteen again, the feel of her tongue against his enough to make his head spin. She pushed his robes off of his shoulders, fingers nimbly undoing each button all the while attaching her lips to the base of his throat. She never did fail to amaze him.

They seemed to have come to the same consensus that the bedroom was much too far and so they walked backward, only stopping as his knees hit the couch. He sunk into the cushions and she clambered onto his lap, her legs framing his hips.

They looked at each other a bit breathlessly for all of a second before they were on another once again. The pressure of her hips rocking against his own caused them to moan simultaneously.

They lost themselves in one another. Her skin flaming underneath his fingertips, chest flushed and heaving, hair surrounding her like a fiery halo. He was quite sure he'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

Head buried in the crook of his neck, Rose sighed his name, again and again, overwhelmed with the feel of it on her lips. She adored him, abundantly and completely. If there were words to describe the way she felt, she didn't know them. He knew though. He felt it in her touch, in her warm breath against the skin on his neck, in the unintelligible string of swears that flew from her lips as he moved inside of her.

After what could have been several sunlit days, the stars faded from her vision and she became aware of her surroundings once again. Scorpius had at some point rolled off of her and had draped an arm around her middle, pulling her back against his chest.

He was falling asleep, she was sure of it. His breathing had evened out and the hand tracing patterns across her freckled shoulder had all but stopped. She knew that she should sleep too, but her mind kept jumping back to the one thing she'd been unable to bring herself to write to him about; the one thought that had been plaguing her since the middle of November.

"Scorpius," she said quietly, rolling over her shoulder to press her face into the warmth of his chest.

He grunted in response, burying his face in her hair.

"Scorpius," she tried again. When he didn't respond she rolled her eyes and realized what needed to be done. Pressing her lips to the base of his throat she began to suck lightly. When he didn't respond she grazed him with her teeth, tongue jutting out to soothe the spot immediately.

He jolted awake at once, breath catching as she kissed further and further up his neck until her lips were pressed against the shell of his ear. Slowly, he opened his eyes as her ministrations ceased.

"That was a nice way to be woken up," he smirked lazily. His smile faded though as he noticed the serious expression in her ocean blue eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked, bringing a hand up to cup her jaw tenderly.

She closed her eyes and swallowed nervously. "I need to tell you something."

"Is everything alright?" he asked, slowly brushing a lock of fiery red hair from her shoulder.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst. "I want to have a baby."

"Oh," he said softly. That wasn't what he had been expecting her to say at all.

"Not now," she amended quickly. "I just know that I wasn't always certain, but I am now. I want us to have a family."

His heart clutched at this and he was embarrassed to find his eyes watering. "I want that too," he responded gruffly.

"Yeah?" she asked nervously, already imagining a beautiful baby girl with rosy cheeks and pretty curls settled between them in bed. He seemed to have been thinking of something similar as he captured her lips in his languidly. After a moment, he pulled away, intent on making her understand what he was feeling.

"Rose," he said earnestly, grey eyes meeting blue. "I want everything with you. You name it and I'm there."

She didn't know how he still possessed the ability to make her stomach swarm with butterflies like she was still sixteen, but she felt her ears burn as she looked at him longingly.

"Not that I'm complaining," he began with a smirk, intertwining their fingers as he spoke. "But what brought this on?"

She shrugged, eyes downcast and cheeks burning. "I'm not sure. I just thought about you so much while I was away and I couldn't help but think about our future as well."

When he continued to stare at her pensively instead of responding she swallowed and continued quietly. "I know I'm not necessarily the motherly type, but I think you'd be good enough for the both of us."

His brows furrowed in confusion. "What? Rose, you would be a fantastic mother."

"You don't have to say tha-"

"I'm serious," he said earnestly. "You're incredible at everything you set your mind to. Why would this possibly be any different?"

She closed her eyes tightly, embarrassed to feel a burning behind them. When she finally spoke, her voice faltered. "But what if I'm not? What if I'm terrible!"

Scorpius sucked in a sharp breath and his grip on her hand tightened. "Rose, how you think you could ever be anything less than an extraordinary mother is beyond me."

At her silence, he slid a hand up to cup her jaw gently, lightly forcing her to look at him. "You, Rose, are the most brilliant woman I have ever met. Any child would be lucky to call you their mum. Besides, we can wait as long as you'd like. There's really no rush."

Rose swallowed and blinked back her tears. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, I promise."

The sincerity of his gaze was almost too much for her to handle. Unable to look at him any longer without bursting into tears she pushed her lips to his eagerly. He smiled against her mouth and welcomed her tongue readily. He stroked a hand up her back causing her to shiver and pull away from him breathlessly.

"I'm never leaving like that again."

This caused him to laugh. "Well, I would hope not, at least not for Albus's sake. He might actually kill you."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He sucked in a breath, looking uncomfortable. "Let's just say I didn't fare well without you here."

"Really?" She asked in surprise. Scorpius had always been extremely self-sufficient. She'd known that he would miss her but had never considered that his lifestyle would change.

"It's no matter," he said easily. "You're here now."

She grinned and leaned towards him, capturing his lips in hers. "I am."

Hours later when they'd managed to get a little bit of sleep and spent the morning with Scorpius's family, they arrived at the Burrow. Rose's mother had held her tightly, weeping into her shoulder about how deeply she'd been missed. Her father tried to disguise the wetness in his own eyes but failed miserably as he too pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

The night was the best she'd had in recent memory. She was tossed between family members, all delighted by her and Harry's safe arrival home. Scorpius never left her side, of course; his hand at the small of her back reminding her that she truly was home at last. It wasn't until nearly 2:00 in the morning that she began to doze off.

After one too many glasses of her nana's eggnog Scorpius had led her into the sitting room where she'd collapsed into the cushions of the armchair nearest the fireplace. Scorpius had settled beside her and placed an arm around her middle. Her family had long ago begun to disperse into the many rooms of the Burrow. To her knowledge, she and Scorpius were the only one's not settled into bed. With her head leaning comfortably against his chest she allowed her eyes to flutter closed, sleep practically calling her name.

"Scorpius," a voice said somewhere to her left. "I was hoping that we could talk."

Rose felt her husband shift slightly, careful not to jostle her too much. "Is now the best time?" He asked uneasily. "I'd really hate to wake Rose."

"It'll be short, I promise," Harry vowed and she heard him settle into the armchair across from her. "I just wanted to apologize to you once again."

Scorpius's chest vibrated with a small, uncomfortable laugh. "Really, there's no need for that."

"Oh, but there is," her uncle insisted. "What I put you through was unacceptable. Albus has filled me in and-"

"Bloody wanker," Scorpius muttered under his breath.

Harry laughed. "I hate to say it but he gets that from me. Listen, I know that you've had a rough couple of months. Ginny has given me enough shit already and I just wanted to give you a proper apology, not some measly excuse sent by owl in the middle of the night. You deserve better than that. You and Rose both."

"Oh," Scorpius managed, clearly surprised by her uncle's speech. "I'm just glad that she's back. What happened is in the past now. I think it's best if we all just try and move forward."

Rose tried to keep her face passive as Scorpius tightened his grip around her waist. She could hear her uncle rise to his feet and she figured that he was running a hand through his greying hair.

"Well alright, only if you're sure."

"Of course," Scorpius assured him. "Just promise that if she ever goes on anything else like this again, you don't all go MIA. I don't think I could handle that."

Harry chuckled lightly. "Trust me, nothing like this is ever going to happen again. Truly, our missions always run much smoother than this. And besides, Ron might actually kill me if it does. If you thought this apology was awkward then you really don't want to hear what transpired earlier this evening."

"I can only imagine," Scorpius mused. "If there's one thing Ron and I can agree on, it's Rose."

"Ah," her uncle demurred. "I think you'll find that you can agree on a lot more than that. You're family now, Scorpius."

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. "I know that."

"Rose is about the best thing to agree on though," Harry continued. "She's quite special, that one."

"She is," Scorpius said proudly, rubbing circles into her side with his thumb.

"Alright, I'll be up to bed now. Just make sure you two don't sleep down here. Molly would have a fit if you don't take a bed."

Scorpius bid her uncle goodnight and settled more comfortably in the armchair. Rose waited until Harry's footsteps had quieted before she opened her eyes.

"So, you think I'm special?"

Scorpius jumped at the sound of her voice. "Jesus."

"It's Rose actually," she said with a smirk that terrifyingly resembled his own.

He greatly resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. "I'm sorry if we woke you."

"You didn't. Now, what's this about my uncle needing to apologize to you?" She began, shrugging out of his grip so that she could sit up and look at him properly.

This time Scorpius did roll his eyes. "He didn't need to apologize to me. Not again at least."

"And why did he apologize to you originally?" She questioned, knowing the answer already but desperate to hear him say it aloud.

"That doesn't really matter, does it?" Scorpius shrugged noncommittally.

"It does matter. It matters to me."

"Well, it shouldn't. As I said, it's all in the past now anyway."

"I'd still like to know," she pressed

"Yeah, and I'd really rather you didn't," he snapped.

"Scorpius, there's no need to be difficult.

"I'm not being difficult," he insisted, fully aware of how petulant he sounded.

"You are. Just tell me what the big deal is and we can move on!"

He sighed, grey eyes catching hers in a chilling stare. "The big deal is that I thought you were dead, Rose."

She opened her mouth and then closed it again, unsure of how to respond.

They sat in heavy silence for a moment, both contemplating the emotional toll of the last four months. She had figured that her being away was what this was all about and had known that a conversation like this would need to happen eventually. He was undoubtedly frustrated with her and she didn't blame him in the slightest. After all, she had gone missing. If she had been in his place she would have been beside herself.

"I'm sorry for putting you through that," Rose spoke at last.

Scorpius shook his head. "You don't need to be sorry."

At that, for some reason unbeknownst to her, her stupid eyes began to water. "It seems as if I do. I would understand it if you resent me."

She faltered on the last few words and Scorpius softened immediately. "I don't resent you."

"Are you sure? Because Harry felt the need to apologize to you on more than one occasion which means that you're bothered by something," she sniffed, blinking back tears.

"Harry did that because he's a decent bloke," he said gently, taking her hand in his.

"Clearly you've been hurt by this and that's my fault. I'm the one who left. I'm the one who couldn't write or let you know that I was alright," she cried, tears sliding down her cheeks languidly.

"Rose," he said with a smile, cupping her jaw gently with his unoccupied hand. "I'm the one that convinced you to go in the first place, aren't I?"

At her silence, Scorpius continued. "Your uncle apologized to me because Albus informed him of how poorly I was while you were away; not that it was his fault or yours for that matter. I don't blame him and I don't blame you."

"Do you promise?" She asked, cringing inwardly at how childlike she sounded.

"I do. Rose, I am so unbelievably proud of you. It was unbearable having you gone, and I didn't fare as well as I probably should have, but you did things you've always dreamed of. I couldn't stand being the one keeping you away from that. So, I'm glad that you went. I'm even more glad that you're home though."

The sincerity in which he spoke caused her eyes to water all over again. With the fire warming her face, his hand tenderly cupping her cheek, and his grey eyes gazing at her heatedly, she couldn't help but kiss him.

"I love you so much," she murmured against his lips.

He pulled away from her slowly and grinned. "I love you too."

With that, he took her hand in his and led her up the winding stairs to the burrow to the room they were sharing with Albus and Hugo. Quietly, they clambered onto their cot and fell asleep wrapped up in one another.

There was still much to discuss, baggage to unpack, but it was all right now. She was home, he was whole again, and they could begin moving forward. Babies and houses and careers and all of the big things coming their way were certainly relevant, but if only for the night, the one thing to worry about was them. Rose and Scorpius. They were going to be alright, they'd make sure of it.

A/N: Thanks for reading!