Reckless

Chapter 12

Haley smiled as her son hurried to get dressed. His father was coming to pick him up for the day. Unlike many divorced couples, Haley and Aaron had only worked out loose visitation rights. Haley didn't see the point. It wasn't like she would deny Aaron the joy of seeing his son. The loose visitation rights said that Aaron would have Jack every weekend, but it was more of as a whenever basis.

Right now, her son had put his shoes on the wrong feet. Haley chuckled at his adorably confused expression. He pulled them off. Haley wanted to offer help, but bit into her tongue. Her little man was growing up and he wanted to do this for himself. The only thing he allowed her to do were the things that he couldn't do himself like tie his shoes. Haley bent down onto one knee and grabbed her son's laces in her hands.

"Chris Cross," she stated as she pulled the two strings across one another, "sat under the bridge," she looped the left string underneath the right, "and pulled the rope tight." She pulled the two strings down against his shoe. "Bunny ears," she picked up the left string and created a large loop with it before doing the same to the other. "Chris Cross," she folded the two loops together and "wore as he sat under the bridge and pulled the rope tight." It was a silly little story she made up to help her son remember how to tie his shoes. Jacked smiled happily and watched as she repeated the story as she tied his other shoe.

"Thanks, Mommy!" He exclaimed.

Harry sat on the couch in the living room. He could vaguely hear Teddy and Hermione entertaining one another in a room away. His cell phone was clutched loosely in his hand. He could apparate to Muggle London and call from a payphone, but the day held him back. The promise he had made to himself to give the Weasleys three days on the anniversary of their deaths. Hermione and he would always celebrate their birthdays in some way just to keep them with them. For Ginny and Ron, they would go to a Quidditch game specifically the Cuddly Cannons or the Holyhead Harpies. For Fred and George, they would have a prank war. For Arthur and Molly, they would have a quiet dinner together that they both cooked. For the Weasleys they spent so little time with, they did the only thing they could: spoke of them. Every single moment they had had-the good and the bad-with the older Weasley brothers were replayed out loud. Talking to the beautiful older woman could wait. Teddy and the Weasleys deserved his full attention. With that in mind, Harry stood from the couch and joined his sister and godson.

For the first time since the divorce, Aaron could look at Haley and not feel as if he had been stomped by an elephant and it baffled him enough to make him pause mid-crouch. His son didn't care. Jack simply threw himself into his arms anyway. Haley tilted her head. Her pale pink lips curved into an amused smile.

"What?" She asked. Aaron realized something about her in that moment. The pain that had filled her eyes every time she saw him was dampened. The sting had lessened for her too. Aaron looked closer at his ex-wife. Her brown eyes held a glow of happiness that had been so absent Aaron feared he had extinguished it.

"Nothing," Aaron disregarded with a small shake of his head. Aaron straightened with Jack in his arms. Haley simply tilted her head, but she didn't push. It wasn't her place anymore. "I'll bring him back by midnight."

Spencer sat on his couch with a book in one hand and a coffee cup in the other. Hermione had told him that she was going to visit England with Harry. It was the anniversary of the Weasley family's death. Still, he missed her. He couldn't focus on the words.

What if she disappeared again? What if she couldn't come home to him? All of those questions bubbled around in his head. He closed his eyes. She would be back. She had a life here. Her home was here. There was no reason for her to stay in England…He knew that, but somehow it didn't comfort him. It felt exactly like those first few weeks after she left Vegas. The strangeness of no longer being in her presence, the emptiness of his apartment, and that hollow feeling in his chest: the feelings were all there. Spencer closed the book in his hands with a quick flick of his hand. He set his coffee on the end table beside him and thumped his head back onto the couch. He let his brown eyes slide closed. He knew that he would only feel comfortable when she was back in his arms.

'Come home soon…'

Aaron listened as his son talk as he drove the familiar route to his apartment. One statement nearly had him slamming on his brakes: "I think Mommy likes Harry. He's cool, but…he will never be you." The name circled in his head: Harry, Harry, Harry...

"What's his last name?" He asked.

"Potter." Aaron felt his fingers go numb. His newest agent…and his ex-wife?

(A/N:: I apologize that this chapter is so short. My interest in this fandom has faded somewhat [I'm certain if I watched Season 8 my interest would be sparked again, but I have been made afraid of it. I don't want to see Spencer get his heart broken. The promo for that episode hurt my feelings enough.]. That does not mean I am giving up on this story or Stripped Bare.)