Hermione woke up slowly, blinking the tear residue left behind from her breakdown. As she started to stir, Lucius sat forward in his chair, waiting for her to discover his and Severus's presence in the room, so as not to startle her.
"How are you feeling?" Severus asked when she finally looked their way. She froze when she first heard his voice, but realized when she realized who was speaking. It was then that her face flushed and she attempted to hide her face behind her hair.
"Embarrassed," she replied, so quietly that Lucius was unsure whether or not she had answered Severus.
"Why do you feel embarrassed, love? You don't need to be. You have been missing for two years and we were the ones to find you. We know you suffered some sort of trauma," Lucius explained, but when her eyes filled with panic, he quickly added, "we don't know what happened, but we are willing to listen."
Hermione stared at Lucius with shock on her face. It was here when Severus stood up and sat on the edge of her bed, watching her face for any sign of fear. Seeing none, he proceeded forward and took her hands in his own.
"Hermione, we all have our own personal ghosts that haunt us. Lucius has them and I have them and we were able to work through them with each other. Now, we wish to help you with yours."
"You don't need to start right away by revealing everything you experienced. We just want you to know that you aren't alone. Ever. We want you to trust us, eventually," Lucius took over trying to explain themselves.
"Something we would like you to do is tell us what seems to trigger any regression, like the closed door, or anything that reminds you of your time away," Severus asked of her.
"Please don't lock me away," she sounded broken, weak, her eyes were pleading. Severus, being the closest, gathered her in his arms. She held onto him tightly.
"We aren't going to lock you away! I promise, you are free here. We won't lock any doors or ward them with any passwords that you don't know, excepting perhaps, my lab," Severus thought aloud, wondering whether or not to actually ward the lab.
"He use to lock me in the closet," Hermione confessed into Severus's lapels. His hand paused on her back, where he had been rubbing, trying to soothe her.
"Who is 'he', love?" Lucius asked, moving so that he, too, was perched on her bed, facing Severus and her back.
"The one two took me. He said he was going to heal me and that I couldn't leave, so he'd lock me away in a closet. He said that I wasn't allowed to look outside because then I might want to leave before I was fully healed. I hated the closet," she sobbed.
"Oh, little one, what did you need to be healed from ? Are you alright, now?" Severus was worried that there had been a preexisting condition that had been disguised. It was easy to forget that she was still healing physically and mentally.
"I wasn't ill. He would make me sick while I was there. He took me when I was unconscious and when I got better, he would poison me, so he could heal me again. When I caught on he would stop feeding me so that I would starve and then poison the food I did get. I would nearly die each time, but sometimes, he would only physically harm me, like breaking a bone," she whispered, her voice sounded dead, although Lucius was sure he heard a hint of fear.
"Hermione," Lucius said forcefully," look at me. You are safe here. I promise. We'll give you the spell to check your food if you wish. You will have three meals a day and as many snacks in between as you wish. Any potions we give you, will only help you. And if, at any time you feel threatened, don't ever feel that you cannot talk to us about it. We want to help you move on from that part of your life, just like we have. It will be hard, but I think we'll manage," Lucius gave her a small smile, which she hesitantly returned before he gave her a hug, which she desperately needed.
"Now, I believe it is past lunch time, if my stomach is anything to go by and I believe there is some stew in the kitchen," Severus announced.
"Stew? I love stew!" Lucius smiled widely.
"Well, then, come on, let's go get it ready and five Miss Granger a moment to herself," Severus reasoned and Hermione gave him a shy, grateful smile. She turned and made her way to the bathroom as Lucius and Severus moved out of the room and toward the kitchen.
"She'll be okay, Lucius. You are okay, I'm okay, she'll get there," Severus told Lucius as soon as they were away from Hermione's door, grabbing onto Lucius's hand, holding it tightly.
"I know. It's just a horrible situation that never ends. It really doesn't, Sev. We are better, but we'll never be the way we were. Never, the past remains," Lucius's eyes took on a haunted look which Severus's eyes echoed. Severus held on to his hand as if it were a lifeline to Lucius.
"Luc, look at me. You have already won your battle against your father and Narcissa, now we're going to help Hermione move on," Severus urged, but Lucius only nodded, not looking convinced. Severus moved to speak again, however Lucius halted him.
"Not now, Severus," his voice was tired. "We have things to do now. We can talk about it later."
Severus just nodded his ascent, but still looked worried, not willing to put the issue behind them for very long. He followed the blonde into the kitchen where they both busied themselves in the tasks at hand for the lunch hour in silence.
Hermione had walked into the kitchen after she had calmed her nerves some. She had stopped in the doorway to watch the two men work in harmony with each other, despite their silence. Severus would barely make a move to reach at whatever he wanted and Lucius would push it into his hand before he could grab at it himself. She smiled softly at the entirely domestic scene, completely in raptures at the way they worked together. Severus was the first to spot her when he turned around to bring the bowls of stew to the table.
"Hermione, how are you feeling? Better?" he asked, gesturing to a place at the table for her to sit down with his elbow. He then brought the stew and utensils to the table while Lucius brought some crunchy bread, glasses, and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.
"Yes, I'm feeling much better," her eyes showed determination and she punctuated her statement with a head nod as if she was trying to convince not only the two men, but herself as well.
"Good. Now, eat up," Lucius ordered, taking a seat at the table. Bread was passed out, juice poured, and the trio started in on their lunch.
"This is very good," Hermione broke the silence.
"Thank you," Severus smiled at her. "Potions and cooking are quite similar, so that helps."
"Especially since I can't cook!" Lucius's eyes crinkled as made the joke, while he buttered a role for the other man before setting it on his plate. Hermione saw this and smiled softly with a feeling of longing to find someone who knew her well enough to add a roll to her plate without even thinking about it.
"Now, we both know that isn't true, love," Severus smiled gently.
"Says the man who refused to eat my cabbage, sauerkraut, and kipper dish!" Lucius faked an affronted look so horribly due to laughing that Hermione was forced to either let her giggling out or explode from the effort required to keep them in.
"You didn't really make that, did you?" she was barely able to choke the sentence out between giggles at the looks of the two men occupying the table.
"He did. He called it "A Lucius Creation" and said that it was absolutely divine. And do you know what his inspiration was?" Severus paused, waiting for the shake of the head from the giggling girl. "Expiration dates. He felt that the food was going to go bad and that he needed to make a dish that included those items or they would perish."
"It was a legitimate dish! It had protein and vegetables!" he protested.
"Actually, Lucius, it is only one vegetable. Saurkraut is cabbage," Hermione had managed to stop giggling but a large grin was still painted on her face. Severus, across the table, had a smug grin and nodded his thanks to the young woman.
Despite the fact that they were making fun of him, Lucius saw real laughter on Hermione's face and for the first time since she had entered their life, and perhaps before that, he felt that they were going to be okay, eventually. He smiled at his lover and at their guest. 'Yes,' he thought. 'This could work.'
A/N: You know what I keeps me motivated? Reviews : )