CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: SOME BROKEN HEARTS NEVER MEND

Lauren walked into the darkness of her villa back in France. Her butler was there to greet her, but even he didn't seem happy. It had occurred to Lauren why she'd never realized this before. It took internal happiness in one person to recognize unhappiness in another. She approached her butler of fourteen years without so much as a word. He was six foot two and sixty four years old. It was about time the man started to live. She could see his dull eyes and forced grin. He used to smile, but now all he managed was a small grin.

"Robert," Lauren said as she laid a gentle hand on his cheek. The man tensed as she did, like a whipped puppy. "What do you dream about at night?"

"I don't dream, Madam."

"Yes, you do. What do you see yourself doing?" The tenderness of Lauren's expression and the warmth of her hand on his face made Robert loosen up. He'd never seen his boss like this. There was something different about her.

"I want to live in Spain. Somewhere I can go outside to a sunny strip of beach anytime I feel the fancy." Robert said, for once the gleam of dream was in his eyes.

Lauren gave the impression that she was thinking about his dream, thinking whether she agreed with him, but all the while she knew what she was going to do to help his dream along.

"Hum. Good dream. Sounds actually like something I'd want to do. Want me to let you in on a little secret, Robert?" Robert shrugged. "Things won't go on like this for much longer. I've found my daughter, Robert. My daughter. I bet you didn't know I had a daughter. Oh, I do. She's fantastic. Her name's Hermione. She lives in London with her children. I'm a mother and a grandmother! I can't take this dark life anymore. I forgot, I can enjoy life. And I mean live. Really live. No more of this. I'm going back to London to be with her. You, I will give you enough money live out your dream. How much do you think it will take? Two million sound good? It's yours. It's all yours. As of right now, you're officially off duty. Forever. You're welcome to stay until you get on your feet, though. Pete isn't going to come home tonight, so he doesn't have to know as of yet. I'll get you your money tomorrow. I'll even go with you to Spain to find you a place to stay. But I don't want Pete to give you any trouble when he does come home, maybe tomorrow evening. We have to move fast! But you, go retire for now. And for God's sake, try putting on some different clothes. Now you don't have to wear that damn suit I know you hate! Robert, you and I, our lives are about to start, like we haven't had time to live since we were kids!" Lauren was swept up in her jubilee as she threw herself around his neck and squeezed tightly, planting a rough kiss on his cheek before jogging up the stairs behind them two at a time. She was like an excited eight year old again. She felt magical all over again. Not with a wand, but with something else. She was blossoming. Robert watched her go, smiling for a change in his lifestyle. He believed her. Someone who hadn't known her as long might call her drunk. But Robert, who had a knack for studying people and learning who they are by simply taking small bits of information from their habits. He believed her as if he'd never believed anything in his life. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching, he started dancing around the reception hall of the manor, gray hair flying in a manner reminiscent of Danny in the classic movie "Grease" he watched so often in his precious off time. Lauren did see him, though. She laughed because he didn't know she stole his movie every now and then to watch it for herself. She loved watching the dance scene in the movie. As Robert broke down into the hand jive, Lauren laughed some more and followed his movements with her own hands. It felt refreshing to know she'd made him that happy. She left him to his dancing.

Lauren returned to the vanity table she sat at before she left. This time when she looked in the mirror, she saw a person she hadn't seen in many years. She used to laugh so much she had laugh lines on her face early in life. They hadn't been used in such a very long time, Lauren had forgotten she'd had them under all the make-up. Her make-up was gone from her face now. She'd been laughing so frequently today. In her own humble opinion, she'd never looked or felt so beautiful. Her twinkling eyes looked as if they held surprises abound. Ever line etched in her face seemed to have the same upward curve her mouth did. She'd spent three hours simply talking with her daughter amidst cheery colors and people in the highest of spirits. The waiters, other customers, all people she didn't know who seemed Heaven-sent to make her day all the brighter. She'd found something she didn't realize she'd been without since she'd left the baby and her father. Honest, heart-deep happiness and belonging.

She turned to her sitting room behind the vanity room. She wondered what she'd be taking with her when she left. She didn't have anything she loved in the house. Nothing at all of any value to her. Instead she'd take the bare necessity in furniture. She wanted a small flat near Hermione's in London. Nothing more than a small living space, an even smaller kitchen, a bedroom for her. So, she'd probably need nothing more than what was in the room behind her. She had a sofa, a TV, a few tables, all tastefully selected for a woman who once would accept nothing but perfection. She had learned differently now. Although, there was a grim satisfaction in knowing even if she was downsizing significantly, she would still have a very fashionable new home. She'd be buying a new kitchen table, and a new bed. There was no way in hell she'd be taking the one from the bedroom she and Pete were supposed to share. No. If he chose to take it, he could. She didn't want it. Whatever Robert decided he wanted, he could have as well. After all he'd done for Lauren for so many years without so much as a thank you, he could take everything Lauren didn't and there was nothing Pete could do. She'd have to mention to Robert to not be humble in his pickings.

Lauren couldn't decide whether she wanted to run Pete into the ground when she left. The part of her that had been left lonely and betrayed by an unfaithful husband was screaming for vengeance. The other part of her said she just wanted to go. She was happy now. It wasn't up to her to make him suffer. He would have his own suffering. She'd leave him some money. Just enough for him to get his own place closer to town, put down a few crops to sustain himself in the future, make sure he can survive, but not exactly thrive, in the time it takes for the crops to grow. His whore in the city would have to figure out how to live on her own. She didn't doubt that the woman would simply go on with her chosen profession. She'd met the woman one time, just once in town, and that was all she needed to know that the woman her husband was keeping had no morals enough to stay with him if he had no money. She wasn't going to leave him to starve in the streets, but she wasn't going to leave him in the lap of luxury, either. She'd need her money, if she was going to spoil her grandbabies.

Lauren spent the rest of the putting the stuff she'd take in the reception hall near the door. When she stood back to look at what she'd have to move, she nearly laughed. It was pathetic, what she was walking away with. She and Robert has split the kitchen things, Robert taking what he wanted and leaving whatever else to Pete. Lauren would buy her own things for a second hand store in London. The two of them had decided to leave every bit of food to Pete, because both of them knew how to take care of themselves and had the money to do so. Pete would need all the help he could get.

Lauren noticed that Robert went straight for anything expensive. The man really wanted a life full of grand things. When they finished, Robert's stuff was piled on the other side of the reception hall. The only difference between Lauren's pile and his was that his was spilling into the tea room on his side of the reception hall.

"Well, I think I came away with what I deserved from this whole deal." Robert said, coming to stand behind Lauren. Lauren chuckled richly.

"Yes, you did, Robert. Yes, you did. Now, I bet there is some fancy hotel in Spain with your name written all over it. Oh, and maybe a storage unit, too. I don't care how fancy the hotel is, you could never fit all this in there!"

"Alright, then, let's go!" Robert still had his suit on. When he moved his hand up towards it, Lauren looked at his lapel. There was a pair of sunglasses tucked in the corner, which Robert flipped open and set on the bridge of his nose in a fashion that seemed as if he'd been doing it his whole life. She had to admit, he looked rather stylish. "My Lady," he offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

"But of course!" She took his arm, and for the first time in his long time knowing her, they walked side by side to the car, sat side by side as they drove out to the country so they could Apparate safely to Spain to look for Robert's temporary home.

Later…

Pete O'Hara walked into his home at midnight. His mistress in the city had copped an attitude with him, refusing to give him what he paid her for until he agreed to make a promise to her. A promise that involved a ring and a license. One he could not make. She'd flown into a fury when he'd backhanded her. He was raised to never hit a woman, and he'd never done anything even remotely close to slapping a woman in his life, but she'd made him so livid. There was no control. He left before he lost it again, instead going back to the one place he hated more than anything in the world: home to his cold bitch of a wife.

As he turned the key and went to push open the front door of the villa, the door would hardly budge. As hard as he pushed the door was too weighty and wouldn't give another inch. Giving up and knowing there was absolutely no other way in, he went back to his car, ready to bunker down and sleep in the car. He had no idea where his wife was, but there was little doubt in his mind that she must be having an affair by now. If she wasn't sleeping with another man already, she was more dry and stony than a gargoyle, and about as moody-looking as one, too. Even if she was out with someone else, she had to come home eventually. He'd know soon enough what was blocking that damn door.

When Lauren got home, she was alone. She'd promised to keep Robert's stuff where it was until he returned the next day to collect it, and the rest of his money. He had a refundable month in the hotel he was in now, just in case he didn't stay there the whole time. They had passed some sea side mansions on the way into the Spanish town, all that looked rather inviting to Robert. He could picture himself living in any of them. That really was all he needed at the moment. She was happy to know that he would be alright. She finished the drive home with a sense of accomplishment and the effervescent feeling of doing good in the world. She felt as if she'd done right by Robert, as if she'd done right by herself, and most importantly, as if she'd done right by her daughter.

The glowing feel Lauren had vanished as she pulled up the drive. She saw her husband's little, black, very expensive Mercedes parked outside with the inside dome light switched on. She saw the outline of his balding head against the headrest. She knew the night she had ahead of her was not going to be pretty.

Pete saw the reflection of Lauren's car lights on the garage door. He'd been gearing himself up for a fight since he found the door locked and the gargoyle woman gone. Now as the time neared to release the pent-up energy, he started to fume. He opened the car door and got out, slamming the door. Lauren saw the glass on the window shake and quiver from the sheer force of the slam. The shine from her day drained even further. She could tell from his body language that he was angry. But it wasn't anything new or frightening to her to see him upset. He always was uneasy around her.

"Lauren! Where the hell have you been? And why won't the door open?" Pete shouted at his wife. Lauren grabbed her purse, thousands of notes to exchange at Gringott's for Galleons. Was Lauren O'Hara a rich woman? Oh yes, even now, she was a very wealthy woman. She stepped out of the car. As she rose from her seat and turned her head, her nose brushed his. She hadn't been so near to him in longer than she could remember. She froze, her breath mixing with his in the air. Hers smelled like the cherry flavored candy she'd bought at the convenience store along the way in loving memory of her daughter, who she'd seen take out a tube of cherry flavored lip gloss. Hermione had explained that she'd been buying the same lip gloss since she was twelve. Harry liked tasting the sweetness on her lips. Even when she'd been away from him, she'd still bought the same gloss, out of habit and affection. Lauren could already tell that cherry was going to be one of the little things she always associated with her only daughter. While Lauren's breath was sweet, Pete's was sour with stale whiskey. If there was a drink Lauren could not stomach, it was whiskey. It wasn't that she herself didn't like the alcohol. It was the fact that Pete drank it. The smell of it made her stomach churn. It was a drink Sirius used to favor. All those years ago, Lauren hadn't minded. Now, it was disgusting to her. She could only hope that being around Sirius again, maybe seeing him drink it every now and then might rekindle the familiar feeling for Lauren. But standing so close to Pete and smelling it on him now was irritating.

Lauren looked closely at the man she married, the one she was planning on sending divorce papers to sometime in the near future. She remembered being attracted to the strong, silent type after having dated Sirius, who was anything but. Pete was a convenience marriage. He used to have the rough ways in bed that someone with as much fire as she had needed. And now, she'd give anything for the many different ways she and Sirius had loved. Hurriedly and passionately at first, and then slow and sensual, but passionately just the same. She genuinely missed being his wife, for the first time ever. She missed more than being his wife. She missed him. Pete was the past to her, a past she'd rather forget.

"Pete, we have to go in the back way. And once we get inside, we'll go to the kitchen. We need to talk."

"What the hell about?" he grumbled. Lauren decided to bite her tongue, keeping the words "about us" from tumbling out. She wasn't going to scare him off now, before she had a chance to say everything to him she wanted to say.

Lauren led him around the back of the mansion and through the back doors to the kitchen entrance. She knew full well that through the archway at the head of the kitchen, you could plainly see the rest of Robert's pile of newfound possessions spilling out into the tea room. Pete was going to throw a fit.

He did. Pete took one look at the things scattered on the floor and rounded on her. "Lauren, damn it, what is going on?"

She started casually, as if talking in the kitchen was something they did as husband and wife all of the time. "I took a most interesting trip yesterday. I was bored, and someone I hadn't thought about popped into my mind. I don't know what I was thinking, but I went up to Hogsmeade, intent on seeing her. But I chickened out and instead ended up in a bar. Well, guess who was there? Her husband, who just happened to be meeting my ex-husband. Crazy little world, isn't it?"

Pete picked his head up off his palm, which was against the counter. "You have an ex-husband?" He looked slightly tempered, but suppressed it. Lauren laughed.

"Yeah, Pete, believe it or not, I have been married before. And, to top it all off, I have a daughter that was the precursor to that marriage."

"You have a god damn daughter. Jesus, Lauren, why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, because I didn't want Hermione. Until yesterday, at least. I didn't want Sirius when I was married to him, either. But now I do. I want both of them again."

"And that leaves me where exactly? Did you think about that, Lauren?"

"Actually, yes. I thought about you. I thought about not giving you a second thought, much like you did for me, when you were running all over town, sleeping with whatever woman you could. Why would I think twice about leaving somebody like that? But I did. And I came to the conclusion that I'll leave you enough money to get by for the next year. That includes shelter, food, crops, and you can keep whatever Robert and I haven't already called. You'll have the bare minimum you'll need, and then you're on your own. I'm going back to the life I never should have left." Lauren stated simply, daring him to argue. What he did next shocked her.

In an instant, he had rounded the corner of the counter and grabbed her by the arm. "You can't do that to me, you bitch. You can't leave me at all. You'll die before you do." He shouted, all the while tightening his grip on her arm. She wasn't afraid of him, although her conscience told her to run for dear life.

"Watch me." She hissed. He raised his fist and brought it within striking range of her. And then he let it fly. Lauren was on the ground bleeding before she knew what happened next. He was on top of her, pulling on her jeans, wrestling with the belt she was thankful was tight. The belt delayed him because he was too angry to even think about undoing it. That gave her time to think about getting away.

"You want to leave me? You coward slut. You don't know what you're missing." He said, fighting his own zipper, having given up on hers for the moment. She was not about to let him ever take advantage of her. She was anything but a coward anymore. She looked around beneath him, for anything to aid her in her attempt to get away. She thought about how cliché it was when she saw the frying pan. But in all hope that it worked as well as it did in the movies, she grabbed it and swung it at his head, hoping to at least knock him back, if not knock him out. It did. The force of the swing made him fly off her and land on the floor behind them, out cold. She jumped up from the ground and tugged her jeans higher on her hips. She would leave now. She decided she'd go to the authorities, have them force Pete to surrender the things that belonged to her, and since they didn't know that the large pile was Robert's, she'd ask for that, too, and give it to Robert as soon as she could. And then she'd run. She'd run back to a place she knew she'd be safe, a place her heart was safe: Right back into the arms of Sirius Black.

Later…

Sirius dabbed a warm washcloth on Lauren's temple. The gash was easily fixable for a wizard, but what he couldn't get passed is how a man could ever hit a woman and then try to rape her. From what she'd told him, which he trusted was the truth, she did nothing more than finally stand up for herself. And he'd knocked her down. Sirius would slug the jerk if he ever got the chance.

"Damn, Laur, he did a number on you. Has he ever done this before?" Lauren shook her head at his question, making him raise his palm to her chin to hold her face still. His hand was warm and surprisingly soft, and gentle in the stark contrast to the last hand that held her face. She brought her hand to his and moved it, so she could look at it. He let her, not exactly knowing what she was doing. He never had been blessed with the ability to read a woman like Harry could look at the back of his daughter's head and know instinctively what she was thinking. Lauren looked at his hand and remembered back thirty years to that hand holding hers, those fingers gliding over her body in passion. That hand that held hers while she gave birth to their daughter, the one that through all the time before his daughter was born would draw lazy circles on her tummy to soothe the budding life in the middle of the night while he couldn't sleep from thinking about the little one who held the heart of a man who'd sworn he'd never give it away. She was his little girl, and he was her daddy. Daddy's hands. Lauren hoped Hermione appreciated her father. He deserved it, after all he'd been through for her.

Lauren couldn't hold herself anymore. She stopped thinking all together and started to cry out of sheer frustration and honest sorrow. Sirius watched as the tears began to flow. He was confused again. His first instinct was to hold her, to ease her pain. But he remembered also watching her walk off with his daughter for the last time. He wasn't sure if he was man enough to forgive her for that. Then he stopped himself. Lauren needed a man. A real man, one who would hold her as she cried and dry her tears. Not one that would throw her on the ground and try to take from her. And all be damned if he wasn't going to be that man. He was man enough to forgive her for walking away, and he was man enough to step up now. Like no other man she'd ever had, he crawled up onto his bed where she was sitting and gathered her onto his lap like a child, holding her and rocking her. He placed a small kiss on her temple. "Lauren, stop. It's over now. It's all over. You're here with me and safe. I'm here. Stop crying, Lauren. Please stop crying. You're going to be okay now."

Lauren breathed deeply as he stopped rocking and held her tighter. She relaxed in his arms. "You're right, Sirius. I'm here with you and I'm going to be fine." She looked him in the eye as she said the words. He looked in her eyes and saw the same woman he'd flirted with all those years ago. The mother of his child.

"What am I going to do about you?" he asked. Lauren didn't have an answer.