Happy Endings

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I doubt it.

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Isabella's POV

I came home from work and entered an eerily silent house. Usually someone was moving about. After pulling off my shoes and dropping my purse, I headed to the kitchen where I made two cups of tea. One for me, one for Sirius. It was time I ended this whole thing for good. I didn't have the guts to approach him in his room; it could lead to well, anything. I fought down the blush appearing on my cheeks and called out his name from the kitchen and then settled in the living room. But as I sat on the couch, something caught my attention, the divorce papers, signed.

"You wanted something?" His eyes were rimmed with dark circles and there was a spark missing from his eyes.

"Umm… I made you tea," I gestured lamely to the cup.

"Oh, thanks." He sat down next to me and took a sip. "Why?"

"No reason." I took a drink, planning on phrasing my next question just right. "Uh… so you signed the papers. Why?"

He sighed. "I thought it was what you wanted. I wanted you to be, well… I just thought it was for the best."

"Oh." For some reason this news upset me. "But why?"

"Merlin Isabella! I can't make you happy can I? One minute you're begging me to sign the bloody papers and the next you're telling me off for signing them! I had my own reasons."

"I was worried!" The words were out of my mouth before I could take them back. "I was worried and scared that you weren't leaving because you wanted to. I thought that maybe you were leaving because they'd found you. And you were going back to Azkaban."

"No, I want to leave. I've already been enough of a burden on you and your family."

I was about to correct him and say 'our' family but I stopped. Because he was right. It wasn't 'our' family anymore. It was 'my' family.

"I also made sure to note that you get full legal custody of the children. There's nothing you have that I want. And I have nothing to my name, so you couldn't possibly want anything of mine."

"No. And thank-you." I stood up. "I should really get a start on dinner."

"Yea," he sighed and finished his tea. "Thanks for umm… the tea."

"Oh, uh… no problem, Sirius. And have you seen Olivia or James about?"

"They're in their rooms."

"Thanks," I smiled and took both cups back into the kitchen, while Sirius went back to his room. I was positive both our minds were spinning.

Olivia's POV

I wasn't sure why I was still hunting for dirt on Alexander. Maybe it was because I was praying that something would come up and somehow, it would all be fixed, like magic. But no matter how many internet files I hacked into, newspaper sights I searched, and gossip magazines I scanned, there was nothing. Nothing that set him apart from all the other dirty crooked millionaires out there. Absolutely nothing.

Maybe I was only looking to prove to Sirius that my mom couldn't and wouldn't be happy with Alexander. Maybe I was trying to prove to him that we couldn't give up just yet. We could still have our happy ending. It was only a matter of time.

There was a knock on my door and I responded with, "come in."

James entered, which was surprising enough in itself. Considering he rarely ever knocked when he wanted a word. But he looked worried and upset about something. This also added to my suspicion.

"What'd you do?" I asked, a frown on my face.

"Nothing!" He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Can't a guy come see his baby sister without harassment?"

"Not you. Because you never just "come to see me", there's always a catch." I gestured to Anna's dusty, unused bed. "Sit."

"Did you ever notice how things fell apart when Sirius came into the picture?" James asked.

"No. I didn't. Did you?"

"Well, yea. I mean…Anna's moved out, I've got no friends left-"

"How is that dad's fault?" I asked, with one brow raised.

He glared at me. "He is not my father!"

I shrugged. "You look like him. You're carrying his DNA. Doesn't that qualify as a father?"

"It goes beyond that. A father is someone who looks out for you, is always there, teaches you how to play quidditch, that sort of thing. He did none of those things."

"It wasn't like he could help it," I rolled my eyes.

"Sure he could have. He could have not murdered-"

"He didn't. He was framed. His friend killed his other friend, and he was framed. And sent to jail, without trial. How was that his fault?"

"He could have not over reacted." James retorted.

"What would you have done?"

James was silent. I prayed he was actually thinking.

"He saved you, that night you were caught drinking? To me that counts as looking out for."

"How did you-"

"I have ears, and eyes. As for the friend's thing, well, that's your own stupid fault. Honestly, on Ian Jonson's property? Are you really that pathetic?"

"It seemed like a-"

"Don't even say smart idea James Demmers. It was idiocy in it's finest. And Anna ran off because of you. In fact, really I think the problem isn't dad, it's you."

"Me? I've been here longer!"

"So, he's back now."

"For how long?"

I faltered. How did one answer that question? "I don't know."

"See, see. I've been what's held this family together! He can't come in here, and, and tear us up!"

"He's helping you!" We were both on our feet now.

"No, no he's not!" There were tears pooling in my older brother's eyes.

"Yes he is!"

"No he's not!"

"What is your problem? What do you have against him?"

"I needed him!" James yelled. "I needed him and he wasn't there!"

There was a long silence after this proclamation. I bit my bottom lip and sank back into my desk chair. "You, you needed him?"

"Yea, I did." He sighed and sat back down on the bed. "Plenty of times. You know there's that special bond between a father and son?"

I nodded.

"I didn't have that. You and Anna had mom. You didn't need him the same way I did. That's why I dropped out of boy scouts, not because it was too "young" for me. But because the father son camping trip was coming up. And once again, I couldn't go. I mean, it went beyond that. There were other times. I had so many questions about dating that mom couldn't answer, I had to muddle through on my own. It seems pathetic now-"

"No, it's not."

He nodded, as if accepting my approval. "Thanks. But I really should have spoken to someone about it all. I should have told mom I needed help. But I turned to Kyle instead. So, I followed him. Everywhere, every wrong turn he made I made with him because I couldn't let him leave me, because I thought that I would be alone."

We sat in silence, and then finally I said, "Then dad came back, and it was too late."

He nodded. "I had Kyle, I had my friends. What did I need him for? He was a roadblock I wasn't expecting. No one had stepped in and saved my butt before. No one had told me what I was doing wrong. I wouldn't listen to you, Anna, or mom for that matter. But something about Sirius stumped me."

"It's not too late."

"What?"

"It's not too late. Help me, if we can just break up mom and Alexander, if we can just-"

He shook his head. "It's too late. I screwed it all up Ollie. I've ruined everything. I told Lex, the truth. I gave him the papers."

There was a shocked silence, and then I attacked. "What were you thinking!" I sprang across the room and tackled him off Anna's bed and onto the floor, attempting to claw and bite at every part of him I could reach.

The door burst open and we were yanked apart, me by mom and James by dad.

"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Mom bellowed, her face contorted with rage. "Olivia Demmers! I have taught you better then this!"

"He," I was still gasping for air. "He, he, blackmailed dad into signing the papers! He told Alexander, everything!"

"What?" Mom let go and approached a red faced James. "Is this true?"

"I had to get back at him. I thought it was his fault that, that Lizzie and Kyle left me. I had wanted to be punished too. Mom, I was at the Whomping Willow the night the MLEF came in and Sirius, he saved me, you from Jonson."

My mother rounded on Sirius. "You did what!"

"I didn't want you to loose your job," Sirius mumbled. "And, I was worried about James."

"You, you were?" James asked incredulously.

"Course I was!" Sirius replied. "No matter how much you deny it, you're my son. I love you. I was terrified you'd see the MLEF and run, drunk, into the nearest intersection. I never meant for you to loose your friends, or to push Anna away."

"If you love me, why'd you leave?"

Sirius sighed and sunk onto the nearest bed. "It was an accident. I never meant to, I wasn't thinking. I thought I'd be back. I've regretted that day ever since. Not because I was framed, but because I counted each birthday I missed on the jail walls. And each moment I didn't get to see you, or Anna, or Olivia, or your mother, to me, was a moment lost. I thought coming back, I hoped I could make you see, make it right."

James sat next to him and looked up, gray eyes, matching gray eyes. "It's ok Dad, it's not too late."

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A/N: Well, there you go. That's chapter (unlucky) thirteen. I hoped it was everything you dreamed it would be, (and more). Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner then later. Thank you to all those you have been following and reviewing so far. If you have an comments, please, please help me out. I can't you know, do the thought viewing thing, (like Snape and Voldie).

Love

MJ16