A/n: Finally the last part of this and what you have been waiting for!

Chapter 10

Unresolved Feelings – III

"I'm so happy for us too!" Renée squealed, jumping up and down on the spot. Cole laughed and came closer to place his arm around Renée's waist and kiss the side of her head.

He smiled at Rose and said, "I heard you just got back and I know all of this is extremely sudden, so we'll leave you to let the news settle in."

He bowed his head slightly and Rose smiled. He was exactly like she had pictured a well-bred man of noble birth to be, nothing in the least like Scorpius and his haughty I'm-so-superior demeanor. She nodded and stepped aside so they could walk to the door. Renée wriggled out of her fiancé's hold and coming up to Rose, hugged her for a third time and whispered in her ear,

"I wanted to warn you beforehand, but I suppose you've already guessed that I'll be quitting soon; so I've been on the look-out for viable candidates to take my place. I've interviewed a few and have found one I thought was suitable. Shall I send him to your office so you can have a talk with him?"

Rose was suddenly feeling breathless and it had nothing to do with how tightly Renée was hugging her. She nodded mutely, because she didn't trust herself to speak and shot her friend a smile. Renée grinned back and ran off to where Cole was waiting by the door. Rose threw her hand out and grabbed the first thing she could find – which was a tall plant – for support. Her head was reeling and she was feeling unsteady. She saw Scorpius make his way to her with a look of concern on his face.

"Rose? Are you alright?"

Renée was getting married. She was quitting her job and probably moving out of the country.

"Your office," she mumbled and Scorpius placed a hand on the small of her back to steady her.

"What?"

"She said your office. Not our office. She's really leaving." She looked up at Scorpius with wide, unsure eyes and his expression softened.

"Do you want to sit down and take a moment?" he asked her gently and she shook her head with a forced laugh.

"She didn't tell me. Did you know?"

He grimaced and then nodded once.

"When!" she demanded and he sighed.

"Rose, come on, sit down and let me get you a drink."

"When did she tell you, Scorpius!" she shrieked, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt and making him wince. He placed his hand on top of hers and tried to ease her fingers apart.

"It doesn't matter—"

"It matters to me!"

She looked at him desperately and his silver eyes turned grey. His jaw set and he said in a flat voice, "Almost a week ago."

"A week," she choked, swaying on her feet. He grabbed her around the waist and steadied her. She laughed humourlessly and stared at a portion of the wooden partition beside the door.

"I was only gone four days. Five, if you count the half day when I fainted," she said in pained voice.

Scorpius looked down at her worriedly and Summoned his chair to her even as he answered, "Yes, but you were so busy, Rose. She probably didn't want to bother you."

"Bother me?" she screeched, her eyes flashing and her face flushing. "She thought it was a bother to tell me something that would change her life forevermore?"

Scorpius's eyebrows furrowed and his eyes began turning murky again. "Rose, please calm down. You didn't see yourself this past week. You looked like you would maim anyone if they so much as dared to look you in the eye."

Rose yelled in frustration and swung an arm out, hitting the potted plant with such forced that it teetered and fell over with a crash. Scorpius swore and glanced over his shoulder at the door. He flicked his wand towards the door to slam it shut. He muttered under his breath and a privacy ward shimmered in place just within the four walls of the office. He had sound proofed it so no one would hear if Rose went on a rampage.

She screamed in frustration and dug her fingers into her scalp as she flopped down on the chair. Scorpius kneeled down beside her and stroked her back soothingly. She lashed her hand out at him and yelled, "Stop that!"

His eyes flashed but he simply sat back. He was probably thinking she was overreacting for something that she would otherwise consider and regard with careful scrutiny. Even she thought she was overreacting. And it probably had very little to do with the fact that Renée had randomly decided that she was going to get married to some fellow who was almost half a decade older than her, and leave Rose alone to replace her with some other chap who probably didn't have half the skills Renée had, to handle the job.

It had more to do with the anger she felt towards herself for being so uninvolved with everything other than her work that Renée had thought it would be a bother to confide in her supposed best friend about one of the most major, life changing decisions she would ever make. She had been so involved in her own foolish, conflicted feelings toward Scorpius, and had not only overworked herself, but had gotten nothing good from it.

She had not finished the work after all those hours of sleep and mealtimes that she had sacrificed, she had fallen sick and missed work for nearly five days, she had made Scorpius feel like he wasn't adequate enough to enjoy her trust and last but not the least, she hadn't bothered asking Renée where she went all those nights she hurriedly finished her work, or when she stared off into space with a dreamy expression on her face. Rose had noticed the change in her friend's behaviour, but instead of asking, she had snapped at her to do her job instead of daydreaming all the time.

And now that she thought about it, Renée had tried more than once to approach Rose until she was either cut off with a curt reply or had been shot down by one of Rose's don't-talk-to-me looks. So it had been her own fault, and yet she seemed to find it justifiable to even think that Renée had betrayed their friendship for even a moment. She was the worst friend and the worst superior and probably the worst person who was alive right then and she wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there for a very long time.

"I am a horrible, horrible person," she sobbed into her hands and she felt Scorpius wrap his arms around her and pull her against his chest. She froze momentarily, but didn't push him away for several reasons. One, the wooden partition and the privacy ward wouldn't let anyone into the room to glimpse what they were doing; two, she had just hit his hand away and didn't want to reject him a second time for only trying to console her; and three, she needed someone to tell her that she wasn't the worst person on the planet even if she felt like she was. And Scorpius did exactly that.

"Hush, love. It's not your fault. She should have told you anyway," he said in a soft, soothing voice as he stroked her hair.

"But I never even cared enough to ask about her life or why she dressed up more than usual or why she finished her work earlier than usual! I just drowned myself in my own work and completely ignored her to the extent that she didn't want to confide in me about something so important!" she wailed into his chest.

"Rose," he said slowly and when she shook her head, he pulled away and tried again. "Rose, look at me."

She stared at the loose knot of his tie for a long moment before slowly raising her eyes to meet his. They softened at the sight of her tear-streaked cheeks and forlorn expression and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her insides jolted at the light brush of his fingers against her cheek and her eyes widened infinitesimally.

He smiled softly and said, "I'm sure you had your own reasons for immersing yourself in your work as you had done, because even Renée admitted that she'd never seen you overwork yourself like that, without food or sleep, for such a long period of time."

She wanted to snap at him, but she was too preoccupied by how his lips formed words without actually moving and how he still had his arms around her. She looked up into his eyes when he paused and saw that they were shining with some sort of conflicted emotion.

"You might think this highly rude and presumptuous of me, and it probably is, and I'm ready for you to give me an earful afterwards, but can I be so bold as to ask if any of this has even the slightest to do with me?"

Her breathing stilled and her first instinct was to smack his chest and yell at him for being such a pompous boor, but since he had already declared that she could give him an earful later, she paused and wondered if she should tell him that it indeed had a lot to do with him. Maybe it would make him even more bigheaded than he already was, but it might be better to just throw the truth out in the open so that she could have the selfish satisfaction that she wasn't the only one breaking her head over it.

"Yes," she breathed and her heart began to pick up speed as she saw the way his expression changed. His eyes were dark – and not in the way she associated with thunderclouds when he was angry, but the kind that you associated with a predator who had just spotted its prey.

"Why?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper, having taken on a deep, growling undertone.

"I—I don't know," she admitted, feeling the heat explode from within her and make her entire body feel hot and flushed. He hummed in his throat – a low, rumbling sound that sent shivers down her spine and his mouth spread in a slow, lazy smirk. She could feel the heat from his palms as he pressed them against the small of her back, like they were going to burn right through her.

"You don't know? At all?"

She found that she was having trouble breathing or even forming coherent thoughts, for that matter, as she stuttered and shook her head, wondering how thinking self-loathing thoughts and breaking a pot had suddenly led to her staring into Scorpius's blazing eyes and feeling like he was looking right into her very soul.

"I don't—" she choked, but her tongue caught on itself and felt thick and numb in her mouth and refused to form words, and it was like Scorpius was drawing closer and closer and the air in the room was getting hotter and hotter and when he parted his lips to murmur her name, she was already teetering closer and closer towards the abyss.

"Rose."

A whimper escaper her lips and her eyelashes fluttered as his arms tightened around her and his gaze flickered down to her parted lips. She could feel common sense and reason flying out the window and she knew if she didn't do something, she would regret it immensely, but she only had enough energy and will power to tear her eyes from his face and stare at his tie, instead.

"Rose," he said again and tilted her chin up by placing a finger under it. She felt like her heart would leap into her throat and out of her mouth, even as she tried not to completely lose her mind as she stared into his smouldering silver eyes. She gasped and grabbed onto his shirt as though afraid she would fall into the bottomless pit if she let go.

And before she could cry out or scream or even breathe, his mouth was on hers and it was like her entire being was concentrated on the way his blistering lips crushed against hers, mashing and moulding them together. She was feeling giddy from the way he kissed her as though he wanted to devour her whole. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't move; she couldn't think; she couldn't even feel anything other than his lips against hers, and when he licked her lower lip as though asking for permission, she couldn't help but part them for him; because Scorpius Malfoy always got what he wanted and who was she to say otherwise.

She shuddered as he passed his tongue across the roof of her mouth and found her entire body pressing against his as though he had control of her very life force, and if she tried to move away even the slightest, she'd shatter into billions of pieces. She tilted her head back so they fit together better, and he reciprocated by pulling her off the chair and onto his lap. He growled in the back of his throat and she moaned into his mouth. She couldn't breathe, but she couldn't care less; she felt like she would implode from the waves of pleasure jolting through her as their mouths melded together, moving and sucking and caressing.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. She sighed at the soft, silky, cool feel of his locks against her burning skin and he did the same with hers, slowly moving his fingers upwards from the base of her neck to massage her scalp. It was just too much, how many sensations she was feeling and she felt like she would go insane from being unable to handle them all.

When they finally pulled away, he tugged her hair and tilted her head back to look into her eyes, both of them breathing heavily; their faces pink and flushed, their hair disheveled, and their lips swollen and moist. They still had their arms around each other and were pressed up against each other and with every second that she stared into his eyes, the more she wanted him to kiss her into oblivion. He trailed his thumb across her bottom lip and she let out a shuddering gasp.

"Shite," he swore harshly, and kissed her again. Except this time, their eyes were open and they stared at each other as he kissed her slowly and deeply; nothing like the previously intense and passionate kiss, but so much more. When he pulled away, she was already feeling her panic return with full force and she shook her head slightly.

"Rose?" he asked softly and she shook her head, her eyes burning.

"No," she whispered haggardly and his eyes went wide and cold. He began to pull away and she started to sob, clutching onto him, still shaking her head. "I don't—I don't understand," she cried, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I don't know what I feel! I don't know if I want this!" She was bawling by then and shuddering from the strength of her sobs.

He looked at her with a concerned expression and asked gently, "What is it that you want right now, Rose?"

"I don't know," she wailed, leaning her head against his shoulder and weeping. He wrapped his arms around her and rocked gently, nuzzling her hair.

"Hush, love. Everything will be alright. Please don't cry, Rose."

She pulled back and looked up at him, sniffling and rubbing her hand across her face. She laughed through her sobs and said, "You must really think I'm mental, huh?"

He smiled, his eyes twinkling as he said, "Oh, but I always knew you were slightly off your rocker."

She smacked his chest and he chuckled. She sighed. "Why did you kiss me, Scorpius?"

She knew it was a stupid question, but she had come to realize that there wasn't only one single meaning to a kiss. A kiss could mean so many things other than love or affection. It could signify attraction, or curiosity, or desperation, or loneliness, or grief, or the need to be held by someone, or desire, or farewell, or guilt, or regret or so many, many things, and she honestly was emotionally distraught enough for wanting an answer to that question.

He seemed to regard her with a thoughtful expression, before leaning forward and rubbing his nose against hers. That small gesture made her heart flutter and her breath hitch and her belly fill with butterflies.

He smiled crookedly at her and said, "I shall only tell you after you tell me."

She let her mouth drop and looked at him accusingly. "You kissed me! You should tell me first!"

"But you kissed back," he replied, the same familiar sparkle in his silver eyes.

"But—" she said, and he chuckled lightly.

"I need to know that you won't walk out of here and suddenly realise this whole thing was a mistake and start avoiding me like the plague. I need to know that you will accept the fact that this kiss did happen and that you actively participated in it and that you will be honest about the fact that you felt some level of attraction towards me." When she started to protest, he pressed a finger to her mouth and said, "At least enough to want to kiss me a second time."

She shut her mouth at that. It wasn't exactly something she could refute, especially since it was the truth.

"I want you to admit that you feel something undeniable for me, even if you can't describe it as anything more than physical attraction. At least for now," he added, when he saw the way she frowned. He slowly stood up and helped her to her feet. He rubbed his thumb lightly against her cheek and she felt herself involuntarily lean into the caress. His eyes shone and he smiled down at her.

"Oh, and," he said, leaning forwards and kissing her sweetly before pulling back and saying, "I promise I won't behave in any way different than before until you yourself come to me and tell me you want me to."

And then he offered her a small, genuine smile before walking back to his desk, with his chair in tow, and collapsing the privacy ward. She felt something indescribable but undoubtedly present inside her that she somehow had always known had been there, but had needed a little push to finally come to life. She breathed in and out several times and straightened her suit and her hair before nodding to him and exiting his office.

Not thinking about the kiss at all, just what he had said in the end – that he was willing to give her both time and space and had left the decision of whether to put and end to what had happened in his office and never bring it up again, or let it slowly grow into something more, completely to her - had left her feeling warm and winded. He was willing to accept either, and that in itself was enough for her to realise that maybe giving it a thought wasn't too dangerous after all.

She didn't know what this thing between them was, but as he had pointed out, it was undeniably there – and had always been there, if any of the previous tension between them was a sign – and they weren't children anymore. Whether they decided to ignore it or pursue it, was something they would decide as mutually consenting adults and that in itself put her mind at ease.

With just one kiss Scorpius had served to resolve most of her unresolved feelings.

A/n: So I made up for all the cliffies, right? Right? Tell me what you think!

Lots of love and cookies~