sorry for the delay! here's the last one in this series. I have one extra that wasn't for a prompt and is slightly longer than a drabble that I'll be putting up separately - an outtake, if you will? thanks to those of you that have read/reviewed so far! hope you enjoy this.
-x-
cold
It's September, more than a month after Bill's wedding, and the evening is sweet and warm. The two of them are sitting by a brook behind the Burrow. They've finished one bottle of wine, and there's another cooling in the stream. Not that they'll drink it now, she thinks.
"I have to," he repeats. "They shut down the shop, they're coming after us hard. My whole family."
She draws her legs to her chest, curling up into herself. "You never have to do anything," she says, but she knows it's childish.
Fred gives her a heartbroken look and puts his arms around her.
"No, I shouldn't have said that," she tells him before he can speak. "I understand. But –" her voice breaks. "You can't take me with you, can you?"
"You've got your life, Annie," he whispers. "The Tornadoes, your family, everything. You can't leave all of that."
She knows. They sit in silence for a moment and she shivers despite the heat.
"I love you," he says.
"I love you too," she replies.
That's the problem.
-fin-