Author's Note: First let me thank everyone who had reviewed, alerted, or put this story on their favorites it means a lot to me.

So it's Friday, well today is my birthday and as such all of you who have followed this little story of mine are getting the gifts. I'm posting the next ten chapters today for you all, I'm amazed at how much love this story has received and at times I'm speechless. I appreciate it so very much and love all of you, it makes me want to get this story finished so I can move on to the next Severus/Hermione story.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I really need to say that I don't own them? I'm just playing with someone else's toys and do return them in the same shape I have found them (well that may not always be the case).

Hermione woke the next morning in her bed, she didn't even remember climbing the stairs. She sat up looking across the hall to see Severus asleep on the bed in the guest room, he had left both doors open. She laid back down wondering how many more years would go by before she would finally come to terms with loosing that baby. The rest seemed to pass and not bother her this much anymore, it was just something that happen that she couldn't control. But that last one was harder to deal with, maybe it was because she was further along than before.

Her mind traveled to Draco that night, he had done something so unexpected. He never said a word until later, when her tears seemed to calm from uncontrolled sobbing to plain crying. That was when he told her that Astoria told him how much pain it was to loose a baby, and that when it first happen she told him to just keep his mouth shut and hold her. She would always be eternally grateful to Draco for that, and Astoria too.

Now she wondered if Severus understood, she had been surprised that he remembered at all. Then when he pulled her into his lap comforting her as she cried over Megan, yes they told her the baby would have been a girl and her mind automatically named her. Now she wondered if that had been such a good idea.

She finally went to shower before going down to make coffee, she knew the ministry would be open in about an hour and Severus talked as if he wanted to be there early. She heard him a few minutes later, then on the stairs. She handed him his coffee when he came into the kitchen.

"How are you doing this morning?" he asked.

"Better, thank you. You will never know what you did means to me."

"It should have been a lot sooner." He said before sitting at the table.

"Better late than never." She said to him.

"Sometimes it's too late."

Hermione let the comment go, thinking that when he was ready he would tell her.

"Is that really the time?" he asked when he looked at the clock.

"Yes."

"I'll be back, unless you want to go then we could….." he stopped when she started shaking her head.

"Okay, I'll be back."

When three hours later he still wasn't back Hermione started to worry, she was almost ready to owl Harry when she heard Severus at the door.

"Damn bureaucrats, just a lot of pencil pushing dunderheads."

"I take it your experience wasn't the greatest."

"Not at all, if I had known that I would be filling out paperwork for the better part of two hours I would have waited until school started."

"It will never change." She said before going back to the bookcase she was cleaning.

"Do you ever stop with the cleaning?"

"Not really, but this only gets it twice a year."

"You need a…." Severus stopped talking when it dawned on him what he almost said.

"I do not need a house elf. Anyway it was good enough for me to do when we were married."

"What's that suppose to mean?" he snapped at her.

"That you never noticed how much I did in that house." She snapped back at him.

"Yes I did, I just didn't say anything."

"So that's suppose to make it all that much better?"

"Yes." He snapped again.

"Well I'm sorry that unlike you I cannot read minds. I have to be told things, or showed. Your good at that right? Showed me enough didn't you."

"Yes, I'm just a sadistic bastard. I don't even know why you want anything to do with me."

"At the moment I don't either."

"Good enough to get what you wanted though."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Nothing."

"No, I want to know what the hell you mean by that."

"Do you really? I was good enough to be here letting you sob all over me last night, now you just throw all my good will back at me."

"Excuse me? What does one have to do with the other?"

"If you're going to play stupid it's a good idea to not actually be smart."

"Oh why don't you go back to your little world where you can pine away for your lost love and jack off while thinking of her."

Hermione left the room, she had no idea what was said to cause everything to devolve so fast and frankly she didn't care either. She froze when he called after her,

"I'll just do that, at least it will be hotter than queen of ice you are."

She finally found her feet again running up the stairs to her room. She locked the door before sitting on the bed.

Severus stood there after he heard her run up the stairs slamming her door. What the hell just happen? He sat back down in the chair, his hand going to the rings around his neck. How did they go from the dunderheads at the ministry to her telling him to go masturbate and him calling her an ice queen.

Once he thought about it, did they really argue over cleaning house? He knew he was cutting with his remark about her cleaning his house, he noticed. He was just loathed to tell her when they were married.

He charmed the rag she had to clean the books putting them back before he let him mind wonder to what to do about this.

Hermione was surprised when she came down a couple of hours later to find Severus sitting in the chair where she had left him, while she was in her room thinking, she came to a conclusion that she didn't like but she didn't know what else to do.

"Severus, your still here."

"Yes, surprised?"

"Yes, I thought you would have left."

"You forgot to add, 'you always did.' Are you slipping?"

Hermione sat on the sofa before saying,

"No, I didn't even think that. But I have been thinking."

"Oh, what have you been thinking about?"

"This, us. I'm starting to think that there is too much pain that I carry from the past to move in to the future."

Severus never turned to look at her, he only said.

"If you think so."

"I do." She said quietly.

"Your are the only one that can answer that question I suppose. So that's it then?"

Hermione wanted to say no, her mind was yelling at him to fight for her but he just stared at the fireplace.

"I suppose so."

Severus stood throwing powder into the fireplace he stepped in as she watched, as soon as he started to disappear she yelled,

"Damn it, don't go. Fight." But it was too late he was already gone.

Severus came out in Spinner's End, he made it to his chair before he let out the breath he was holding. He had no idea how to erase the past, he heard her yell at him to not go and fight. He had no idea how, she wanted him to not give up. He was out of ideas on what to do, he found himself in her room. He laid across the bed, it was the closest he would ever be to her again. Tears came to his eyes as he now knew that what he had done had caused too much damage for anything to fix.

Author's Note: Comments really do make me smile and brighten my day.

Also I wanted to let you know that I have a couple of Severus/Hermione videos on youtube, the link is in my profile.