Disclaimer: I do not own either Ron nor Hermione, they both belong to J.K. Rowling

Chapter 2: Paths Crossing

Hermione arrived back in her and Ron's home shortly after witnessing James spit out all the contents of his infant stomach, on to Ginny's bare neck. The sight nearly sent her over the edge, and running and screaming through out the Potter's home. Luckily she composed herself enough to floo back home, and have her breakdown in privacy.

She couldn't even imagine the infinite amount of love you would have to feel for your child to purposely make them vomit onto your own shoulder. Then continue on, to comfort and soothe the vomit machine. And the privacy, where would she go to have her breakdowns if she had a child?

After a quick look around the place she could see that Ron must have left very shortly after she did. The leftovers of the dinner she had prepared yesterday evening were still scattered about the kitchen. The table was still set the exact same way that it had been when their fight began.

Hermione started walking toward the stairs, but stopped when her eyes fell upon a distraction. Ron had aberrantly left a note on the side table. He had written it so quickly, or perhaps angrily, that the few words written were hard to decipher. If she hadn't spent so many years learning the art of, Ron's crappy handwriting, she would have been at a loss.

At George's, took Pig-face along.

She frowned as she felt herself become full of many different emotions at no more than six words. Initially, she felt touched that Ron would reduce her of worrying, by letting her know where he was. But she could not be quite sure, whether or not the note's purpose was so she knew she had the house to herself, or so she knew she shouldn't go to Georges. She could have figured out she had the house to herself on her own, so the latter seemed the most plausible.

Then relief washed over her, her cat wasn't left alone to fend for itself like a stray in the midst of their squabble. In all honesty, she hadn't even given Crookshanks a second thought. Add that the ever growing list of why Hermione Weasley is not meant to have children.

Finally she settled on one last emotion, probably the most unreasonable one at that. Why should she give a rat's ass where Ron is? He could be off sperminating some other witch for all she cared!

Hermione went on to rip up the note and stomp up the stairs in a childishly manner.

"Like I give a shit," she mumbled under her breath. As long as he wasn't here, she really didn't care what he did anymore.

"He's a grown man," she thought to herself, he can do whatever he wants; it's his life, "or funeral". She thought as she stopped in train of thought at the top step. "A grown, 'married' man," she added. His funeral indeed.

"He better be at Georges," she said aloud to no one.

Three hours, and 6 owls later, Hermione was at the end of her wits. Apparently, word of her and Ron's argument had spread around the Weasley family and to their friends.

Hermione had been hosting an S.P.E.W. meeting at their home, once a month, since they purchased the home itself. But apparently, since word of her and Ron's fight broke out, no one wanted to come. She couldn't say she blamed them, who knew if Ron was planning on showing up or not. If he did, it could potentially split up the family, forcing people to take sides.

But then again, where were your friends and family when you need them? It would feel nice to have someone on take the opposed side…

She shook her head at her selfish thoughts. Maybe it would be best that everyone owled and bowed out of the S.P.E.W. meeting. In reality, she knew that everyone would take Ron's side, she married into a very loving, pro-creating family, and majority of the meeting was made up of family members.

"Ron – 1, Hermione – 0," she said aloud.

Frustrated, she let her mind wander to the oversized bathtub they had in the master bathroom; maybe she just needed a long hot bath. She had been looking forward to the meeting, and had been counting down the minutes actually. Just preparing for the meeting itself had provided her with hours of distraction. But now what was she left with? Disappointment and loneliness.

Dejectedly she began packing up all of her S.P.E.W. things. About half the group had declined, and the other half was probably too lazy to send an owl. About halfway through however, their main floo became activated. She whipped her head around to see who her faithful elf activist was and drew back in shock.

There stood Ron, in all his glory, holding Crookshanks a good distance away from his body. Hermione stood across of him, half of her face covered by her bushy hair, holding onto a bundle of folders for dear life.

They stood in a shocked silence for longer than what was comfortable. The only sound heard was, the crackling of the fire, and the sound of Crookshanks hissing to be freed. Ron, who was not actually shocked, and was well aware of what he was getting himself into, dropped the cat unceremoniously onto the floor. Unlike Hermione he had been able to prepare himself to see her.

Hermione let out a loud breath that she seemed to have been holding when she saw her cat scuttle across the rug. Once again, the mere presence of Ron had filled her with fifty different emotions, much like his short note had.

Ron however, had not been prepared to be the only person in attendance to the monthly S.P.E.W. meeting. He knew that George and Angelina were not going, but they had urged him to go, stating it would only make things worse between them to be unsupportive.

"Where is everyone?" Ron asked, softly.

The broken silence brought Hermione out of her state of shock; she immediately began picking up files again.

"Avoiding conflict," she responded, smartly to her husband's question.

Comprehension then dawned on Ron; their own kin had planned and schemed against them. They had all refused to come, but got Ron to go anyways. "Weird support system," he mumbled to himself.

"They did this on purpose so that we would be forced to see each other," Ron said louder, slumping into his favorite chair.

"It would appear so," Hermione responded, with little emotion behind her words. She finished cleaning up and heaved the remaining pile of folders into her arms.

On reflex, Ron jumped out of the chair to assist her. "Here, let me," Ron began, but was cut short in decline.

"I think I can handle it," his wife snapped, turning the corner into her office.

Ron was left flabbergasted, normally; she was completely flattered when he offered his help.

He ran a hand through his hair, only for his fingers to get caught in a tangle. He murmured a curse under his breath and headed up to their master bathroom for a shower.

However, the moment his hand hit the banister, Hermione had returned, and she looked livid.

"Where do you think your going?" she asked, furious.

Ron gave no response, but gave her a look that suggested she had a new eyeball sprouting from her forehead. It would appear clear where he was intending to go, with one foot on the way up the stairs.

With no response, Hermione restated her question, taking his silence for confusion. "Are you going up the stairs with the intention of staying here tonight?"

Ron took a step away from the stairs at her reworded question. "Well I do live here," he responded slowly, as if to remind her of the obvious.

"Not tonight," she shot back, quickly.

"Oh, so you're still too stubborn to sleep together in our big, bad, baby making, machine then?" Ron asked, annoyed at his wife's stubborn ways. Besides, if she really thought he was going to even try and put the moves on her after their fight last night, she was bonkers.

Hermione took a step closer to him and responded, "Well that depends, is that what our bed still is to you?"

Ron smirked, preparing himself for a hex that was sure to come his way the moment the words were out of his mouth, "Not necessarily, we could make a baby on McGonagall's desk for all I care, whatever gets the job done."

"BASTARD!" Hermione shrieked, and sent a hex at her dear husband with the intention of setting his hair aflame.

Ron, who was prepared, deflected it with a smile on his face. He had gotten a rise of her exactly like he had planned to.

"How dare you insinuate I would ever do such a thing? Get the hell of out this house Ronald!"

The smile disappeared from his face, "Really, be reasonable Hermione, I know you are more level-headed than this. We can sleep under the same roof, I give you my word I will not impregnate you."

"That's not funny," she responded, shaking where she stood out of rage.

Ron shifted on his feet and lowered his wand so it pointed at the floor. He would give up the stubborn act first, "I know it wasn't, I'm sorry, I just hate fighting, I want to be here with you, I love you, I hate being away from you."

"Will you love me unconditionally if I refuse to bear your children?" His wife asked, with a solid voice.

"Mione, I will love you no matter what, but you know how I feel about kids." He responded softly, with hope to avoid the same argument from last night.

"And you know how I feel, I guess we are no closer to a resolve then," she responded, equally as solid as before.

"Now, are you planning on staying or not?"

"I live here! I will stay if I please!" Ron shouted, angry that he put himself out there with an apology and it got thrown back in his face.

"Well, being a level headed person, as you referred to me, I am aware that we will only continue arguing if we both stay. So if your staying, I'm leaving," and with that, she pushed past Ron and made her way upstairs to grab some overnight things.

"Shit," Ron said, angry. As much as he wanted to stay here, it would be worse to kick Hermione to the curb.

He walked angrily out the front door, letting the door slam behind him. Hopefully his wife would get the hint she could have the damn house they owned together for the night.

He took in a few deep breaths of the cool evening air before turning on the spot and apparating to Diagon Alley.

Hermione did in fact hear the door slam shut, and at the sound, she let her solid, cool exterior down, and cried the remainder of the night. She had never felt more awful in her entire life. She replayed Ron's apology in her head over and over again, going over all the different ways she could have accepted it.

She knew though, deep down, that their future was hanging over their heads; there were only two possible outcomes that could come from resolving their biggest fight they've ever had. And neither a baby, nor divorce sounded satisfying to her.

After all they had been through together, an unborn, perhaps never existing child is tearing them apart. She knew she could not live without Ron, but was she willing to selfishly bring an unwanted child into the world to keep him?

She decided to put off working things off working things out with Ron, she would ensure their paths did not cross again until they both cooled down.

A/N: I am really happy with the response I got to the first chapter! So thank you to everyone that added it to their favorites, reviewed, or added it to their alerts!

One person even realized I was inspired by the song Land Locked Blues, by Bright Eyes, so you should listen to the song if you enjoy the story, it sets the mood.