Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the story line...sadly. JKR owns everything - including the characters, spells, and the entire world of Harry Potter. I wonder if I could buy it from her for a dollar?
Thanks to my wonderful, wonderful beta - dragonsangel68.
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Chapter 16
Ginny lay in a sweaty heap on the floor of her living room. She'd gone catatonic and when that happened she did what every red-blooded woman did - she cleaned. She cleaned without her wand.
Her whole house was sparkling. The clothes were washed, ironed and put away. The dishwasher had been run and emptied. Everything had been dusted. Jayden's room was spotless. All the junk drawers had been cleaned out and there were twelve sacks of garbage by her front door. Her bathroom grout was white once again courtesy of three toothbrushes and a bottle of bathroom cleaner.
Clad in only white knickers and a tank top, Ginny was an exhausted woman spread-eagled on the hardwood floor of her living room. She was still panting from the speed at which she had cleaned and was inspecting her ceiling for possible dust specks.
She hadn't followed Draco for a number of reasons. She didn't trust what she would do to him when she found him and she didn't think it would do her son any good to see his father torn limb from limb by his angry mother. She really didn't know where Draco had gone either. He was probably just pacing about the Manor, but he could be at the house, or the cottage, or any number of other places and she didn't see the need to splinch herself over such a prat. She knew her son was safe, and that's what really mattered. Jayden had no idea that he'd actually been brought home so he wouldn't know the difference when he woke up.
"Ugh!" Ginny flung herself into a sitting position. She had no idea what to do. Dawn was breaking. She could go shopping or to the Burrow. She could owl Hermione and see if she wanted to have lunch. What did she normally do on the days when Draco had Jayden? Sunday was his day and this was indeed Sunday. She was used to this, but she wasn't used to being this angry on her days off.
She began stomping around the flat with no apparent reason or direction. She flung off the tank top she was wearing and shed her knickers on the way to the bathroom. Her wand found her palm and the bathwater began to splash into the tub with a tap of her wand. Her favorite bath salt flew from the shelf by the mirror and added themselves to the rising water followed by a dab of lightly scented bubble bath. She sunk into the water and flipped the switch to the jets located around the tub. "Bless Draco for this gift, but screw him for everything else." Draco had insisted on replacing the small tub originally located in the flat with the monstrosity she was now basking in. Chin deep in swishing, foaming water, she began fade into her own thoughts.
Over the hum on the jets, she didn't hear Draco shedding his clothes or stepping into the bathroom.
"Scoot up."
"Damnit, Draco! What the fuck? You just show up here every time you feel like it without any regard to what I'm doing! I'm pissed as hell at you right now and I don't think us being in the same room is beneficial to the health of either one of us!"
Ginny began to rise out of the tub without a stitch of modesty. He'd seen it all before, hadn't he? Yes, he'd seen it many, many times before and Ginny really didn't care if he saw any of it again.
"I didn't say `get out of the tub', I said `scoot up.'"
"Fuck you."
"Maybe later, I'm not in the mood right now. Scoot up."
"Bugger off, Malfoy. Where's my son?"
"Jayden's with my Mother and I'm coming in whether you like it or not. We're going to have a bath and talk this out. We can't do any harm to each other in such a relaxing setting."
"What if I drown you?"
"I'll take my chances. Are you going to scoot or not?"
"Not."
"Fine." Draco put one foot in the tub and swung his other leg over Ginny's head. He sat on the edge of the tub and slid off the edge of the tub into the water. Ginny held on to the edge of the tub and tried to brace her feet to keep him from sliding in behind her.
"If only I were a little taller I could put up more resistance, damnit," Ginny thought.
"If you were just a hair taller, you might have more luck keeping me out."
Ginny gritted her teeth in aggravation. "Reading my thoughts again are we?"
Ginny had scooted up as far as she could without being out of the tub. She made a move to get out of the bath, but he grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back to his chest. She struggled with all the force she could muster, but was unable to unwind his hands from around her.
"Damnit, Draco. You can't keep doing this."
"Can't keep doing what? Taking baths with you?"
"You can't keep showing up and having your way. That's your problem, you don't compromise."
"I compromise with you all the time. We raise Jayden together very effectively thanks to our compromises."
"That's not what I'm talking about." His grip loosened on her waist and her head fell back onto his shoulder.
"What are you getting at then?"
"I'm saying that whenever you feel the need to have a conversation about something you consider important, you just show up here and force me to talk to you. You never take into consideration that maybe I don't want to talk."
"I have to do it this way or you'd never talk to me about the important things."
"What important things do we have to discuss, Draco? We know this isn't working and we know why. The only thing I can think of that we could possibly need to talk about is how we're going to manage to quit shagging."
"Why would we quit shagging?"
"Because it's not good for either one of us. I want something that you're never going to be able to give me. It's not that I want it from you necessarily, but it would make life a tad simpler."
"What's that?"
"I've told you millions of times. I want to fall in love. I want someone to fall in love with me. No matter how wonderfully functional our situation is, I can't watch you go off and shag other woman, and then come back to me."
"I don't do that anymore. I haven't done that since you left me when Jayden was a baby. I haven't shagged anyone but you since then, either."
"That's not the point. The point is that I don't want to continue this when I know it'll end someday."
"What do you mean?"
Ginny let out a breath. "What I mean is what I've told you a hundred times before. You'll meet another witch and you'll leave. I'll be crushed and that'll be that."
"Ah, now we're getting to the meat of it. Why do you think I'd leave you? I've been with you for three years now."
"Three years-a lifetime, what's the difference, right?"
"Fuck, Gin. What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to really listen to me, for once. You say we're getting to the meat of the issue, but this isn't anything I haven't said to you before. You just choose what you want to hear and ignore what you don't. I am sick of wasting my breath."
"I'm listening now."
"And?"
"I want you to tell me what you're thinking and how I can fix this."
"You can't fix it, Draco. I want someone to fall in love with me, marry me, and be the father of my future children. I want to buy a house with him and sleep in the same bed with him. I want to have fabulous sex with him and eat meals with him. There is so much that I want, but it's all wrapped up in one person."
Draco's fingers linked with Ginny's over her stomach. "I don't know how to give that to you. I don't want you to find another bloke that makes you happy."
"Why not?"
"Because we're happy right now. Notice that everything you just mentioned with the exception of the marriage we've already done. We have a child, we've bought a house, we have slept in the same bed many times over the years, and we eat meals together several times a week. We also have fabulous sex, if I do say so myself."
Ginny's shoulders started to shake in what he originally thought was laughter. The jets of the tub had long since gone off. Ginny's hands pulled from his and covered her face. When she leaned forward and crossed her legs under the water, he realized she was crying. Draco put a hand on her shoulder to try to pull her back to his chest, but she pulled away from his touch. He slid up towards her and gave her no choice when he wrapped his arms around her.
The width of the tub was enough so he could turn her around without much effort. With his legs spread wide, he yanked her to face him and pulled her into his chest. He wrapped his legs around her hips at the knee to afford her no possible means of escape.
"Gin, I'll give you anything you want if you'll stop crying. I'll even buy you a pony."
This only proved to make her cry harder. Her sobs made her body shake as tears poured out of her hands. He was forced to into action. He only knew of one way that made her quit crying, and it had always proved effective. "Jayden really is a sharp kid-Da sugars really do make the Mummy stop crying."
He pried her hands away from her face and lifted her chin to look at him. He ran his thumb along her lower lip while tears continued to course down her face. A sob made it's way out of her body as he lowered his lips to hers. She tried to pull away, but Draco had a firm grip on her to avoid that very situation from occurring.
When she finally stopped trying to escape, Draco lowered a hand to her happiest of places and moved his thumb gently over her clit. A moan rumbled in her chest when he increased the pressure. He slipped a finger into her and kissed down her neck.
"I do love you," he whispered into her shoulder before catching her lips in another kiss. His hands captured her backside. Lifting her slightly, he put his legs straight and she moved to straddle him. He lowered her onto his newly sprung erection and kissed her hard.
She didn't move. He pulled away from her lips. She was crying again, and her head hung low.
"I'll make it all better, love. Ride me. I'll make it all better."
Her tear-filled eyes moved up to his gray ones. Her hands moved up to his shoulders and she began to move. His hands grasped her hips in an attempt to control the pace, but she didn't seem to care. She shifted in all different directions in a quest for the orgasm that would make her see stars and forget her problems.
"That's it, Gin. Come for me."
She rode Draco with all she had. Bathwater sloshed onto the white tile below and screams of built up passion and rage reflected off of the walls.
Wrapping his arms around the woman that had collapsed on his chest was all he could think to do after an orgasm of that magnitude.
Their breathing eventually stilled and Ginny let his depleted member fall from her when she got out of the lukewarm water. She wrapped in a towel and left the bathroom. Draco was left alone with his thoughts.
In the bedroom, Ginny dressed herself and left her flat.
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The next two months progressed and neither parent talked to the other much at all. They dropped Jayden at meeting places with Grandparents as much as possible, to avoid seeing each other.
That is, until one Sunday morning when Draco arrived to pick up Jayden.
Jayden was sitting at the breakfast table looking miserable.
"What's wrong, little man?"
"Mummy's sick again. She made my breakfast and got sick again. It's not my fault is it?"
"I'm sure it isn't, little man. Where is Mummy?"
"She's in the bathroom."
"I'll check on her. Finish your breakfast, little man. We're going flying today."
"Ohtay, Da."
Draco walked down the short hall to the bathroom and heard Ginny retching.
Draco grasped the handle of the partially open door and knocked softly. "Gin?"
She stopped dry heaving long enough to say, "What?"
Draco pushed the door open and sat on the floor beside her. "Gin, do you have the flu?" He gathered her hair at the base of her neck and twisted it up in a makeshift bun.
She swatted his hand away and fell back onto her bum. She scooted her back against the wall beside the toilet bowl and put her hand on her forehead. Draco stood and wet a washcloth under cool water. He wrung it out, folded it and handed it to her. She looked dreadful.
"Gin? Are you ill?"
"Yes, you bastard. It's all your fault, too."
"I don't have anything. I'm not ill. How is this my fault?"
"You said you'd make it better and I guess you did. You made it better for you."
"What the bloody hell are you on about, Gin?"
"You got what you wanted. I'm pregnant again, you fertile bastard."
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