Here you go! Apologize for the wait! In 2021, I'm going to have better time management and hopefully more time for writing and the things that make me happy! Enjoy!
Chapter Fifteen
For over two weeks, Adair stayed behind in London and went to St. Mungo's every night after all of the visitors had left. No one bothered her as she sat next to Charlie's bed shrouded in baggy sweatpants and a baseball cap.
The occasional Healer that came to tend to him left her alone. She was grateful to them for not capitalizing on her situation and asking for photos and autographs.
Because of the poison, Charlie's body was taking a long time to heal. Even the wounds to his head and face were slow to make any positive progress. According to the reports she got from Katie, he wasn't getting any worse and so there was room for some hope.
It was strange, but that time was a respite for Adair. She might go for a run or go into the team gym while everyone was away very early in the morning, but she spent more time in her flat alone than she had since she'd bought it.
Eventually, she ran out of happy things to talk to Charlie about and so she would take a book and sit next to his bed and read out loud. One of her teammates in Germany had read Muggle fiction constantly while they travelled and so Adair had picked up the habit with all of her down time.
She figured it was still her voice, so it might work just as well as talking to him like Katie had suggested at the beginning of the entire debacle.
Adair left Charlie's room earlier than she had the first night every night following. She had been lucky that she ran into Mr. Weasley and not one of the more hostile family members, but she didn't want to take her chances.
After one such night of reading a novel to Charlie, she left just as the sun was beginning to rise and headed back to her flat.
A feeling washed over her before she even put her hand on the doorknob and she knew something was off immediately. The feeling settled over her like an ill fitting second skin and she felt the hair raise on the back of her neck and arms.
It wasn't fear she felt and when she opened the door and saw the back of her mother's blonde head, she recognized it. It was foreboding and apprehension and a deep seeded need to protect herself.
"Did you have a nice visit with the dragon wrangler?" Aileen asked, turning to face her daughter.
Adair would've laughed, but suddenly she felt like a little girl all over again. A little girl on unsure footing. Back then she wouldn't have known if she was going to be praised or belittled, but if she had learned nothing else growing up with her mother, she knew for a certainty that she wouldn't be praised that day.
"No, I wouldn't say so. He's unconscious." Adair subconsciously folded her arms across her chest to protect herself while avoiding her mother's green gaze. "And his name is Charlie. You met him at the World Cup."
"The only thing I can remember from that day is your horrendous performance."
Adair didn't respond, biting the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't rise to the bait.
"Truly, Adair, what are you still doing here? I cannot fathom that this is worth your career. Or your entire life. What does Colt think about you sitting at the bedside of another man?"
"I haven't asked him what he thinks," Adair responded with as little emotion as possible, even though she could feel it rising within her. She tried not to glance at the rolls of parchment she had received from Colt when she hadn't appeared in North America.
"He seemed just about perfect, so what is this compulsion to throw everything away?"
"I guess I was just ready to shake things up," Adair said with a shrug, finally looking at her mother.
"Don't be glib!" Her mother exclaimed. "You had everything! Do you know how long I worked to go to the World Cup? It never happened for me! And here you are, acting like none of that matters!"
"Right now, it's not what matters most to me," Adair said quietly. "Why are you here? I would never ask you to support me if I never play again. So don't worry, I'm not going to drain your bank account because of this."
"You've already done a number on it! Think of the private lessons and the top of the line gear we've bought you so that you could be one of the best Chasers playing this sport! You've done something I never did because of everything I poured into you and you're letting it go!"
Adair took a deep breath. "I'm sorry your career didn't go how you wanted it to, but there's nothing I can do about that now."
"My career didn't go how I wanted it to because of you! Because I had you! And now look at the repayment! The embarrassment and humiliation is just about to do me in and you don't even care!"
Finally, it was too much for Adair. The abuse had been heaped too high and she sat through a version of the same argument for most of her life. "No I don't! I could not care less actually."
Before she knew what had happened, Aileen's hand had landed on her cheek with such an impact that she was forced to grasp for the back of the sofa. Her eye watered and her cheek burned, but she forced herself to straighten up and look at her mother evenly.
"Ungrateful bitch," her mother spat before seeing herself out of Adair's flat.
When she was sure her mother was gone and she had tried to steady herself, she walked into her kitchen and opened her liquor cabinet, pulling down a full bottle of Firewhiskey and a tumbler. Her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn't pour her drink and so instead she just took a long pull from the bottle itself.
"Fuck!" she exclaimed as she slid down to the floor in the kitchen, putting a cautious hand to her cheek.
ooooOoooo
Later that night, she went back to the hospital and sat by Charlie's bed once more. That time, however, she didn't pull their novel out. Her encounter with her mother had shaken her to her core and she didn't know what she was doing.
"Do you know how much money I would give to go back to a year ago?" she whispered to him, picking his limp hand up and holding it between hers. She rubbed it, trying to bring some life back. "I would give up anything, Charlie, I really would. My talent, my flat. Anything if you would just wake up and take us back there."
Tears were slipping down her cheeks and she leaned forward to rest her forehead on his shoulder.
"Adair?"
She sat up quickly, wiping at her eyes, seeing Katie standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing here so late?" she asked her sister-in-law.
"I have to work the occasional night shift," Katie said, taking a step into the room. "The better question is what happened to your face?"
"Nothing, Katie. Don't worry about it," she replied, turning her face away.
"Who did that to you?"
Adair paused. There was no point in hiding it anymore. "My mother."
Katie actually gasped. "What? Your mum?"
"We had a bit of a row over me not playing right now."
"And she hit you?" Katie asked. "Oliver told me that he had to tell her what you were doing when you missed more than the first match."
Adair shrugged. "It's not his fault. She would've found out eventually and the result would be the same."
"I always wondered if there wasn't something going on there."
"Your hunch was correct."
"I'm so sorry, Adair." Katie squeezed her shoulder while her sister-in-law sat motionless.
"I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
Adair nodded and waited until she was alone again before turning back to Charlie. "Sorry about that."
She was silent for a while longer, but that left her with her own thoughts.
There had never been another time in her life besides when she was with Charlie that she had been so impervious to her mother. Sometimes she thought the woman could sense when she was unhappy and she would come around to make it worse.
When her daughter was happy, Aileen stayed away as it was harder work to get a rise out of Adair.
"That didn't happen when we were together. Bloody hell, I'd never played better and I'd never been happier. And now here we are." She sighed. "I'm so sorry I wasn't better to you in the very beginning. I know, I've told you, but I would take it back if I could and I would be happy to be yours and only yours. We could've made it work."
Adair wasn't positive they could then, so she passed the rest of the early morning in silence before going back to her flat. She geared up for a run and ran around her neighborhood until she was breathless.
And then she went further.
She had been photographed a few times while she was away from her team and the reporters were speculating wildly as to why she wasn't in North America, but so far none of them had guessed correctly.
Rehab was the most popular rumor.
When Adair returned to her flat, she took a scalding shower, poured two tumblers of Firewhiskey down her throat and went to bed.
While she slept someone pounded on the door to her flat. She thought it was a nightmare; some twisted vision of when George had appeared to tell her of Charlie's accident.
When she began to rouse herself, there was a pop!
Adair screamed, but then realized it was only Katie who had materialized in her bedroom.
"I didn't want to have to do that!" she exclaimed apologetically. "But you did give me permission and you weren't answering the door!"
"What are you doing?" Adair asked, when she'd caught her breath.
"Charlie's awake!" Katie looked just as tired as Adair did during the day, now that her entire schedule was built around going to the hospital at night. She figured Katie looked like that after a night shift. "I had one of the Healer's on standby to let me know if anything changed and he reached out this afternoon. He's awake and sitting up and talking. He's asking for you, actually."
"I have to go!" Adair exclaimed, rushing out of her bed.
"I'll come with you!"
Adair paused and looked at her sister-in-law. "I'm not going to the hospital, Katie." She shook her head. "I have to get to my team."
It was as though, since he was awake, that she felt she couldn't be with him as easily as she could when he had been unconscious.
"The team?" Katie looked astonished. "What are you talking about? You spent all that time with him…"
"I know. It's strange, but he's going to be alright. I can feel that. He doesn't need me."
She had reverted immediately to who she had been long before Charlie Weasley had even come into her life.
"But I want you to go to Gringotts and get out as much money as you think would buy him the best therapy and private healer."
Katie began to speak.
"You have permission to do that too. I settled it with the bank after you and Oliver got married. You're the closest thing I have to a sister and I'm glad you're around."
Katie threw her arms around Adair. It wasn't anywhere near emotional, but she knew it was the best she could hope for from her sister-in-law.
"Don't let any of them know that I paid for it. Just tell them it's the service that the hospital provides, alright?"
Katie was nodding along.
Adair disappeared into her closet and came back out with the suitcase and Quidditch bag that she'd never unpacked from the day she was supposed to leave.
ooooOoooo
"You've got some bloody nerve showing up here!" Coach Williams yelled, spit flying. "Where the bloody hell have you been? Middle of the season! You call yourself a professional? I signed you for a reason and this was not it! This is not the Adair Wood I bloody need! Were you in rehab? Has the drinking and the partying gotten out of control and now you can't perform? I've seen it happen to other players!"
Adair was standing before him in England's team room they had been provided in Ottawa. "No. I wasn't in rehab. It was an emergency, that's all I can say, but I promise it wasn't anything scandalous." She supposed that would depend on who was asked, but it wouldn't be to Coach Williams.
"Bloody unfair to the subs if I put you straight back in for tonight's match. They've worked their arses off trying to make up for whatever quarter life crisis you're having."
"I know," Adair said looking at her feet. "I'm not asking for that. I'm just asking that you don't kick me off the team."
Coach Williams let out a long breath. "We've lost more matches than we've won on this tour without you and I've still got half a mind to give you the boot."
Adair nodded. There wasn't much else she could say to defend herself.
"But the other half of my mind would like to recover this season and unfortunately, I think we can only do that with you."
Adair looked up hopefully.
"Get your gear on and I swear to everything holy if you make one bloody mistake, I'll sit you out for the rest of the season and don't think I won't!"
Adair was already halfway out the door on her way to the locker room. "Yes Coach!" she called over her shoulder.
She burst into the locker room and was slightly dismayed when her female teammates didn't greet her warmly at all. In fact, they acted like she hadn't entered the room. She stood before them for a moment, but then went about the business of getting dressed, braiding her long hair, and preparing for the match.
No one said a word to her the entire time and Adair understood. She'd be pretty mad too if one of them had just bailed with no notice or explanation of when, or if, they'd be back.
Adair knew she had to prove herself to her coach and her teammates. It would probably take longer than one match.
Once more, she stood with Oliver as the rest of their teammates were announced and flew around the pitch.
"Everybody's pretty pissed," Oliver said, without looking at his sister.
"I'm aware."
"ADAIR AND OLIVER WOOD!"
Adair went to reach for her brother's hand, but he shoved her out alone. "Myself included."
She gaped back at him, but then turned, getting her wits about her enough to wave to the crowd. Oliver only came out once she was in the air.
It was exhilarating to be back on her broom. She had never taken such a long break from playing the sport in her entire life and it seemed to give some focus to the game. Sometimes it had felt like she was playing on autopilot before the break.
She was cognizant of where all of the players were on the pitch and where the Quaffle was.
Her teammates may have been furious with her, but they still threw her the Quaffle and blocked for her so that they could score. She was grateful for it, even if it was only their competitive natures.
England blew Canada out of the water, but no one congratulated Adair or said anything to her once they were on the ground. She took it in stride once more.
After the match, they headed straight to Kennebunkport, Maine, to play the United States, which would wrap up their tour.
Adair felt the dread building in her stomach before she even Apparated to the hotel. She would have to see Colt and have some sort of conversation with him. He had written to her several times, but she'd never responded.
She didn't have to wait long. He was standing outside the quaint inn waiting for her. She tried to smile, but it must've come off more like a grimace.
"Can I come up?" he asked without preamble. He didn't wait for an answer.
To the plain observer, it might look like he'd taken her arm with some affection, but he had a vice like grip on Adair and he pulled her roughly to her room.
"Are you fucking kidding me, Adair?" He slammed the door shut behind them. "Do I seem like the type of man who needs to write to one fucking woman over and over again? Do you think you're my only option?" His cowboy drawl was even more pronounced when he was angry.
"No, I don't think that," she responded.
"Who do you think you are? That you're so special you can't write me back? How do you think it looks when I don't know where my girlfriend is and she's supposed to be on a tour near me?"
"Please, Colt. Don't pull the girlfriend card. We both know you've been sleeping with other people."
He looked taken aback.
"And I never said anything because I don't care. I was with the dragon wrangler from Oliver's wedding. He had an accident. They thought he might die so I stayed with him."
"So now what?" Colt demanded. "Now you're back on tour and you left him?"
"He's better. That's all I needed to know." Adair held up a hand as he opened his mouth. "And before you even suggest it, no. We're not going to continue on with this farce. I started sleeping with you again right after a horrible breakup and that was a terrible idea. We're done here. Go fuck all of those other women lined up to do so."
Colt stuttered and spluttered, mostly just cursing at her before he left and slammed the door again.
Adair sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the door for a long moment before rummaging through her bag and pulling out a full bottle of Firewhiskey.
ooooOoooo
It was the same routine as before. Adair got ready for the match the next morning in silence and flew out to greet the crowd alone.
She was up in the air when the American team was announced. Colt glared at her as he flew higher and higher to get a good vantage point to spot the Snitch.
From the moment the Quaffle and Bludgers were released, the match was an absolute nightmare.
Colt must have let his teammates in on what had happened the night before, or at least his version of it, because all of them were gunning for Adair in a very obvious way.
She could hardly take the Quaffle from her own teammates as she was too busy dodging Bludgers that were continually being rocketed her way. When she did have the Quaffle, the American Chasers were knocking into her, boxing her in and dive bombing her to at least throw her off course, if not her broom.
Anyone could see that Colt and Adair were no longer the picture perfect couple who had graced the magazine gossip columns just a month before. This was not a friendly competition between lovers.
She'd never been so angry during a match.
Her plight seemed to bring her teammates back around to her though if there was any silver lining.
"Are you okay?" Logan, their Seeker asked as they flew near each other.
"Don't worry about me! Find that Snitch before him so we can win this fucking match and get out of here!"
She ducked as a Bludger barely went over her head.
It went on for over another hour, before Logan finally managed to find the Snitch. Luckily, the American team had been so preoccupied with Adair that they hadn't managed to score enough goals to drag the match out.
Adair landed close to her brother and thought she would have to crawl to the locker room. She had been in a state of tension and stress for over three hours.
Her spine stiffened when Colt landed next to her and the adrenaline was pumping once more.
"This doesn't change the fact that you're a fucking whore," he growled. "Everyone in the world knows that."
"What the fuck did you just say to her?" Oliver asked. He knocked Adair out of the way so hard that she fell backwards onto the turf.
Adair watched as her brother, with all of his brute strength behind him, punched Colt right on the jaw.
"Bloody hell!" Coach Williams was running as fast as he could, not very, considering he had once been a beefy Beater, onto the pitch. Before a full on brawl could break out between the teams, he had waved his wand and a barrier was up between them.
"In the locker rooms! All of you!" He glared at Adair and Oliver. "I can't even look at the pair of you."
Adair was trying to hide her smile as she walked next to her brother. "You're going to get charged a fine by the league," she said. "I'll pay it. You didn't have to do that."
"Oh I know I didn't, but I've wanted to do that since you were fucking around with that arrogant prick the first time."
ooooOoooo
A little over two weeks later, Adair was returning from a late practice. Things had gone back to normal. She had worked her arse off at practices, both in the gym and on the pitch, and had been a force of nature during the only match they'd had since they returned. Her teammates were talking to her once more and she and Oliver were on good terms after he'd punched Colt. They'd laughed over a few Firewhiskeys, but overall she was trying to rein in the partying.
She readjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she rounded the hallway in her building to get to her flat and there he was when she looked up.
Charlie Weasley was leaning against her door frame.
"You shouldn't be here!" she exclaimed, hurrying to open her door and let him in. She gestured for him to sit down on the sofa.
He was still really beat up and he limped as he made his way through her living room. He sat down gingerly and still groaned.
Adair winced to see him in such a state, but she had to admit that it was better than seeing him motionless in a hospital bed.
"You look a little rough," she said.
"Much better than I did, but you know that. You were at the hospital."
Adair opened her mouth to protest.
"No bother lying. George told me that you spent every night there."
"And who told him that? Visiting hours are during the day."
"Katie told him. And then she told me about the money."
Adair pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You shouldn't ask someone as sweet as Katie to lie."
"Well that's abundantly clear now," Adair sighed.
"Why did you do that? Why did you spend all that money on me?"
Adair looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Because I didn't want you to die?" she scoffed.
"I woke up and I remembered a lot of what you said to me all of those nights," Charlie said looking up at her.
"And?"
"And? And I want to be with you, Adair! I want to accomplish all of the things I know we can together. Let's forget everything. I was an idiot. You weren't always the greatest either, but don't you think we could move past that, knowing what we know? Going through what we've been through?"
"Charlie," Adair said. "I said all of those things to a man I thought might die. I would've told you anything you wanted to hear if I thought it would wake you up. Not for me. But for everyone else. Because the world shouldn't lose you."
"That's bullshit, Adair, and you know it as well as I do."
Adair shook her head. "It's not. Charlie, we didn't work for a reason and that's okay. Things don't always work. Relationships don't always last. That's life."
"And I was almost dead. I know what I want and that's you. There's nothing that will really, truly make you realize how you want your life to be like death will. The first thing I asked for when I woke up was you and they told me that's the last thing I said before I was out completely for weeks."
"I think this brush with death has added even more drama to our situation. I can't be what you want and certainly not what you need. Are you forgetting that we have fundamental differences on what we think about something as big as children?"
"I don't want them if you don't."
"And I'm not going to live my life thinking that you gave something up that you wanted and then having you resent me for it."
"I would never." Charlie reached out for her. "Sit with me."
"I'm good," she said, not moving from her spot next to the armchair.
Charlie nodded. "Bill and Fleur are having their third baby and when I heard that I wasn't jealous or angry. I don't need kids if I have you."
Adair was silent for a long time. Finally, she said, "I don't think you understand how hard that decision was for me, Charlie. When you came round after the World Cup, you didn't care about me at all. Not my physical well-being, let alone my mental or emotional state."
He looked away shamefaced.
"It wasn't a decision I made in three seconds not to have our child. I weighed every single option and did the best I could, but it was still awful. You think I was cold and clinical about it, but I realized that baby was a part of you and I, something we'd made. I didn't do what I did lightly," she said, tears welling in her eyes.
"I was an absolute monster, Adair. I would change that if I could." He could barely look at her when she was so raw. "I want to make it up to you. I have to. I care about you, first and foremost."
"I don't think I believe that."
"Let me at least try to prove it to you. I can't go back to the sanctuary like this. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to. So let's spend time together like we weren't able to before when I was in Romania."
Adair was silent again, not liking where he was heading.
"I could get a job here. We could live a more normal life; have a more steady relationship. How does that sound?"
She shrugged. "I've said it three times now, Charlie. I would never ask you to give up something that you love." She left it unsaid that that was exactly what he'd done to her.
Charlie nodded. "You wouldn't have to. It may not be an option for me any longer whether I want to go back or not." There was a note of sadness in his voice.
"You should get back to the Burrow. It's not good for you to be out so long in your state."
"I've seen this one Quidditch player hit the bars after she fell off her broom and took a Bludger to the shoulder," he said with a smile.
"She sounds like an idiot." Adair returned the smile and then looked away.
He attempted to rise, but couldn't and so she reached a hand out, which he took. He pulled and she gripped him under the elbow. She hadn't forgotten what it felt like to be so close to him and even in his battered state, he still caused a flutter in her stomach.
"I'm going to be in England for the foreseeable future. Could I take you out in a week or so when I'm a bit stronger?" he asked, looking down at her intently.
Adair looked down at her feet on the white carpet. "We'll see."
I'm not super impressed with myself on this one. I don't know. It seems to be a little jumbled and lacking something. Let me know what you thought! And let me know where you think they go from here! I love all of the ideas I've gotten from you guys and I love to weave them in with my own so feel free to share.
Happy reading,
Avonmora