Aaaat laaaaaaast my loooove has come along

"Scoot over."

"You scoot over."

"Shut up, they're going to catch us."

"You're the one talking." I elbowed Blaise in the side and he gave me a dirty look before finally I scooted over just a little bit.

The two of us fell silent as we watched our parents dance. The pair fit together perfectly, the most striking couple ever, I was sure of it.

Today was my father's wedding day.

This morning I had been dressed up in a deep purple dress, my blonde hair twisted up in the most grown-up elegant style I'd ever had. I got to be in the Bride's room while Jacqueline got ready for the wedding with her friends. It had been the most grown upI had ever felt in my life and I loved it.

The wedding was beautiful. Everything my dad had hoped it would be. He admitted to Tate and me the night before that he was nervous. That he hadn't thought he'd marry again after our mother left but I could see how happy Jacqueline made him.

After the wedding had been the reception- loud and fun with so much laughter and dancing. There had been a chocolate fountain that Blaise and I had basically set up camp next to until Jacqueline ran us off- worried about both our clothes and possible stomachaches.

Anyone under seventeen was being run off to bed by ten, even Tate, Blaise, and I. Dad and Jacqueline had gotten a hotel room for the three of us to stay in while they finished up at the wedding- and they'd be staying in their own room for the night.

Tate hadn't even made it up to the room. He ended up sneaking off to I don't even know where. He was fifteen and had all kinds of secrets he refused to talk about with his little sister.

Blaise and I had headed for the room, both of us taking turns getting ready for bed, showering, and putting on PJs, We pulled out a pack of exploding snap cards and played a few rounds but soon enough it was after midnight, Tate still hadn't come back and we both knew that the party would still be going.

"I want to see what's going on." I declared.

"You're going to get in trouble," Blaise warned.

"No, I'm not. Come on." I gestured for him to follow. In the weeks before the wedding, we'd come to the hotel a few times to finalize everything and that was when I saw the little hallway. I led Blaise down it, I think it was meant for caterers but it was currently deserted. We got to the end and carefully pushed the door open, just a little bit.

My lonely days are over, and life is like a sooooong

Blaise and I watched in silence, everyone had left by now, and the room was a bit of a mess, there were champagne glasses all over, some knocked over, and bottles as well, but the only two people left on the dance floor didn't care. My dad's arms were wrapped around Jacqueline and the two slowly swayed back and forth. Her eyes were closed and her head rested on his shoulder. His eyes were open, his gaze on her and only her, a kind of love in his eyes that I had never seen before and I hoped to one day find for myself.

The couple two tables away from us were having a fight.

They were speaking in hushed tones- but not quite hushed enough. I couldn't hear every word but I caught a few of them here and there. A lot of accusatory 'You's and the like. But even if I couldn't hear a single word their body language told the entire story. They were both so tense, leaning in close so they could hear each other without speaking up. His hands were clenched on his lap while her hands moved around at a rapid pace.

I had become an expert in angry body language early on in life. It was a skill that I wasn't proud of exactly but I would argue had saved me far more than anything I was taught in school.

Being a nosy bird, I wanted to try and find a way to scoot a little closer. I was dying to know what they were fighting about but the restrooms were in the opposite direction and unless I was willing to really commit to barging into the kitchen to personally give the chef my compliments on a meal I hadn't received yet- I wasn't going to be able to hear anything more.

"Babe, are you even listening to me?" I was ripped from my intent staring at the couple and back into the conversation I was supposed to be a part of.

"Of course." I lied. "You were telling me about the stocks." there was a beat and then Charles, my boyfriend, relaxed, going back to what he had been saying.

Generally, there was a fifty-fifty shot that Charles would either be talking about stocks- he fancied himself a master at the stock market- or about his actual job, working for Avery Quidditch supply in their marketing department.

I had guessed correctly.

"Tell me about your day." He implored finally. I waited a Moment as if he was kidding, but the intent stare didn't dissipate.

"It was fine," I answered. "I spent most of it working." Charles didn't retake the conversation, instead waiting for me to continue. "I was called in by the ministry to do some work on a muggle who had witnessed an arrest performed with the leg-locking curse." I elaborated.

"Oh-" Charles launched into telling me about a man who he worked with who used to do what I do. I highly doubted it as I did a little bit of everything at the Moment, but who was I to deny him?

There was quite a bit of flexibility in my work as I freelanced as both a curse-breaker and an Obliviator. I also did a few other things on the side, really if someone needed charms work done and didn't feel like trying to do it themselves, they called me.

Eventually, I knew I'd probably have to be properly hired somewhere as one or the other but for now, I was able to get away with doing both.

"Screw you!" The woman at the fighting table slammed her hands down on the tabletop, storming off, knocking over her chair as she violently snatched her purse where it was hanging on the side.

Damn, now I would never know what the fight was about.

Charles scoffed quietly and shook his head.

"Could you imagine being that couple?" He asked. "Making such a scene in public? Absolutely not."

"Absolutely not." I echoed, my eyes on the man at the table who was tossing down a handful of coins to pay for the meal, running after his date.

I didn't have to imagine it, no I had definitely been that couple before, well- kind of.

"Excuse me." The maitre d' called out. "I am looking for a Mr. Reid Fawley."

I rolled my eyes and went to stand.

"Always with the Mr." I muttered, Charles cast me an annoyed look, but I brushed it off, it was probably nothing.

I had never been a fan of hospitals.

What a stupid thing to say, who was a fan of hospitals? Who in the history of time ever said they really and truly from the bottom of their heart loved hospitals?

Hospitals were cold, unfeeling places. I understood, logically, why they were so stark- they didn't need to be anything other than that. It was safer for it to be mostly white, for it to look as sterile as it needed to be to keep the people safe.

However, I found, as I curled up in the hard chair in the waiting room- that I wanted nothing more than for them to have comfy chairs with warm blankets never mind that we were at the tail end of April and it was already feeling a little too warm for a blanket.

I wrapped my arms around myself and watched the bed as my dad's chest slowly raised and lowered, raised and lowered, every second I was terrified that it would stop. That it would level out and never rise again.

"I brought hot chocolate." I jumped, nearly falling out of the chair, looking to the door where Charles stood.

"Oh-"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He grinned and walked further into the room, holding out the little cup filled nearly to the brim with the warm pale brown drink. I took it carefully and brought it to my lips, letting it scorch them, sipping just enough that I could confidently put it down without it sloshing over the sides.

"It's okay I just- was thinking." I paused. "Thanks for the cocoa." Even though, again, it was too warm for a blanket and for hot cocoa. If it had been the kind made with real chocolate and marshmallows, that would have been different. But that was definitely asking for too much from St Mungoes, as this was definitely the powered drink mix with the hottest water man had ever created.

I hated seeing him like this, my father, laying in the bed so vulnerable. The wizarding world had a lot of things the muggle world didn't have- medically speaking- but somehow despite that, he still had monitors attached to his body- watching his heartbeat, watching everything that could possibly go wrong. It meant there were wires and tubes and beeping sounds and-

"You know, maybe it'd be a good idea for us to go home," Charles suggested. I finally ripped my eyes away from my father and looked to Charles, as if he were crazy.

"I can't leave." I shook my head.

"Babe-"

"What if something happens?"

"Then they will contact you-"

"What if he wakes up? Opens his eyes and sees he's here all alone?" I scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Alright." Charles held up the hand that wasn't clutching his own hot chocolate. "It was just a suggestion. He does have two kids, doesn't he? Where is Tate?"

I bristled at the mention of my older brother. Tate had run off as soon as I showed up to the house as they were preparing to rush Dad to the hospital and I hadn't heard from him since.

That was hours ago.

"That's what I thought." Charles shook his head. He never made a secret of what he thought about Tate. How he thought Tate's laissez-faire attitude was basically an insult. He did have a point. I had sent a couple of messages to my brother at this point and he hadn't responded to a single one of them. Not even a quick 'I'm not dead, just freaked out' message. Which i wouldn't blame him for being worried, he was the one who found Dad- he was also the one who waited far too long to do anything.

The call had not been nothing.

It had been Tate, informing me that something was very wrong with Dad. Telling me that he had come home a few hours ago to find Dad asleep on the couch, and had left him alone thinking he was just sleeping.

He had gone back down and found Dad still there so he went to wake him up, knowing that if he stayed like that for too long then the rest of the night and tomorrow would just be him complaining about how much his back hurt.

He hadn't woken up.

That was when Tate called me. I told him to call for the healers, then went to end my date with Charles who, of course, insisted on going back with me.

At first, I was annoyed but when I got there and Tate literally vanished into the night, I was glad to have someone there with me.

Then it was off to St Mungoes and we had been here ever since.

The healer in charge said it was Dad's heart and they had rushed to do some tests, I had asked Charles to go back to the house and grab some books on cardiology but he had laughed as if I was kidding and I hadn't bothered to tell him I was dead serious.

There was a knock and the nurse that had been watching over Dad came in. Her name was Nona. I liked her.

"Hey." She greeted, holding the clipboard in her arms. "I'm just here to check on his numbers." She headed for the charts, looking them over. She was pretty, probably mid-thirties which made her a bit younger than him but not by a painful amount. Her dark red hair- dyed that color judging by the brown roots- was piled up on her head. No ring on her finger either, I would have to mention that to Dad.

Eventually, Tate and I would move out of the house and the idea of him living there all on his own made my chest hurt.

"Hmm." Nona frowned.

"What?" I asked, sitting up a little straighter, I'd been keeping an eye on the monitors but without the damned cardiology books, I really didn't know what I was looking at.

"I'll be right back," Nona promised, turning and walking out. Charles put his cup down and reached over, taking my hand.

The healer came back in and looked at the charts then the two spoke in hushed tones. Nona's shoulders were tense, her lips thinning as she nodded, following along with what the Healer was saying. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the clipboard she'd brought in with her a little tighter. I was transported back to dinner- when the couple had been fighting.

As if the thought reminded my stomach I hadn't actually eaten anything all night- my stomach chose that Moment to grumble- loudly.

"Oh, babe. We should get food, down at the cafeteria."

"I'm fine." I brushed Charles off, my eyes focusing on the pair.

"Miss Fawley." The healer finally unhuddled from the nurse and headed our way. I quickly stood, ripping my hand from Charles's grasp

"Yes?"

"We need to get your father in for surgery right away. Your brother is actually listed as the decision maker but-"

"Do it. Do what you need to do." I knew there was no way they would get ahold of Tate if he didn't want to be caught. I don't know why he was even the one listed. I'd have to have that conversation with Dad later, I hoped.

The Healer nodded, obviously happy not to have that argument.

"Fantastic. Mrs. Henderson, Let's go." I paused, then realized Nona was Mrs Henderson… Married after all.

Things moved quickly after that, they rushed in, took Dad away, off to perform heart surgery which sounded like the scariest thing in the world and when I asked a nurse about it- they did nothing to make me feel better about it.

something I appreciated but my own heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest.

"Babe, come on, we need to get something to eat. You starving to death in the waiting room isn't going to make a difference.

"You go ahead, I just- want to stay here." I insisted.

"Fine, I'll bring you back something." He promised. We had been moved from my dad's room to the surgical waiting room, it was just as cold, and the chairs were just as uncomfortable but here I cared even less about it because every last bit of thought I had was being poured into hoping my dad was okay and he'd come out of this and how I was going to strangle Tate for not being here.

"Thank you." I scrambled to stand up after he did, I grabbed his hand and pulled him back, pressing a kiss to his lips. His hands moved to my waist. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome, you know I'd do anything for you." He clipped my chin and turned, heading out of the room.

Yes, I knew he would- he told me all the time. To the point where it felt kind of weird but I knew he didn't mean for it to be weird. He was just- mildly awkward. I had no room to judge that.

He walked out and I fell back onto the hard chair. A few minutes later a door opened and a nurse came out.

She had a defeated look on her face, and my heart sank. I couldn't breathe, my chest was tight. I was waiting for her to say my name, to call for Fawley.

"Jackson." she called out, there was a small family a little ways away from where I saw who all perked up, apparently not seeing her face, or maybe not overanalyzing everything about it. I was wound up tight as a rubber band being pulled to its limits. I wanted to scream, but we were in a hospital and that wasn't acceptable here. She walked over to them and they spoke quietly.

There was a woman who looked surprisingly like my grandma had before she passed, that woman let out a wail, the kind of wail that hit me like a train and suddenly the room was falling in on me. I couldn't do this. I jumped up and headed for the door to get out of the room, my chest felt tighter and tighter, and soon enough something was going to snap-

I managed to slip off to the side, out of the way of the doors before my legs gave out. I sank to the floor, pressing my hand to my mouth to try and muffle the sobs that were shaking my entire body.

"Reid?" I knew that voice, I would know it anywhere, the deep smooth as silk voice that I had known for far too long.

Blaise Zabini.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, reviews and favorites are appreciated. And if you haven't already, check out Prince of Ruin, the first story in the series (But you don't have to read that one to make sense of this one)

Thanks so much! - Cece