Aeneas "snogged Atticus" Nott (naught) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-01-10 12:08:00 |
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It had been three days since Aeneas Nott was released from Azkaban and only now was he returning home to Nott Manor. The last few nights had been spent at his beach house - while he had longed to be released from prison, he had not anticipated that only two months would make him feel inexplicably incapable of going home. One part of him missed his wife and children more than he could care to admit (well, slightly more), while the other half felt too far removed from his old life to see his family. The days away helped, though, and soon he was adjusted enough being back in the real world that he finally felt he could go home. It had been too long since he'd laid eyes on his own home, and he while he still felt slightly hesitant about returning, he knew it was time. He'd been able to bathe and change from his tattered Masquerade costume at least, so though he looked decidedly thinner from the weight he had lost, he seemed much better than he had the day of his release. Stepping into the entranceway of his home, he gave his cloak and hat to the House Elf. "Alert Claudette of my arrival," he instructed. Since Chloris had informed her of Hephaestus' return, Claudette had been watching out the window obsessively for Aeneas. She'd lost count of how many days it had been (not that she'd been counting, of course), but she had the feeling that something was wrong from how many days it had been. Within one day, it could have been that Aeneas was perhaps reporting back to the Dark Lord or having any injuries or illnesses treated, but it had certainly been more than one day, and Claudette's thoughts were racing. At first, she'd wondered if perhaps Aeneas had been killed, whether it was in battle or whether the time in that horrible place had just made him too weak. But she'd since heard that he was alive and well, and he had not even contacted her, and Claudette was beginning to fear something even worse than his death. What if he no longer wanted her? What if he was leaving her to her own devices, sending her back to her family to be worse than an old maid? Though Claudette ultimately doubted that he would endanger his own position in society with something such as a divorce, it still terrified her. There was no guarantee that the time spent in prison had not somehow caused him to become mentally unstable, and when it became his word versus hers, Claudette knew who would win. If he had died, Claudette could have at least been an honorable widow and known that he died loving her, but if he left her... She saw Aeneas approaching the house even before he opened the door, but she couldn't bring herself to move. The emotions she felt were too overwhelming: relief that he looked well, anger over his delay, fear for the reason behind the delay, sadness for the time they'd lost. Even when the House Elf tapped lightly on her door and announced that "Master Aeneas is here, Madame," she did not move, silently waving the House Elf to leave her be with only a single shuddering sob. Aeneas stood there in the entryway a moment in silence. Then he heard footsteps, though they were closer together than his wife's, and soon they were joined by another pair. "Papa!" Colette cried, and Calista was right on her heels. "Papa!" He scooped up Calista while Collette was furiously hugging his legs, "Papa, why did you have to go to Switzerland for so long and miss Christmas?" His eldest daughter looked as if she were on the verge of tears, and Aeneas tried his best to keep back a small grin. So Claudette had told the girls he was in Switzerland? After giving each a kiss on the cheek and promising to explain later, he sent them off to their rooms, determined to find out why his wife would not greet him in the door as she should. He made his way up the stairs to the master bedchamber, hoping he would not have to search extensively for his wife. "Claudette," he called but not too loudly, pushing open the door. Perhaps she had taken ill and was napping, as he could think of no other acceptable reason for her to not greet him when he summoned. Hearing his voice in their doorway for the first time in so many months did absolutely nothing for Claudette's composure. With shaking hands, she tried to dry the tears from her cheeks and pinch some color back into her face, but even then, she was a pitiful sight: bedraggled, tired, eyes rimmed in red and cheeks without color. She wanted to present a beautiful picture to him, a smiling and healthy wife with a growing belly, but the most Claudette could really offer as she turned to Aeneas was a watery half-smile that didn't take long to disappear again. Staring at his wife a moment, Aeneas was confused. She should be happy to see him, like the children were. Why - was it the baby? No, he could see her stomach was still large, and he was relieved. If she had lost their baby while he was in Azkaban... Well, no matter. It was something else. "Claudette, what is wrong?" he asked sternly. It should have been a happy moment, Claudette realized, but for some reason, it was causing every fear and insecurity she'd ever had to be multiplied in a most obnoxious fashion. Part of her wanted to simply force a proper smile and pretend that nothing was wrong, that it was just an overabundance of emotion (which was technically true), but she had been pretending that everything was alright for months now, and she was tired of it. She hated herself for being so weak; Aeneas deserved a strong, supportive and welcoming wife when he came home, not this, though she knew that if he'd returned when everyone else had, he would have seen nothing but joy. Instead, she spoke in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "I thought you 'ad left me." Left her? Left her and his two children and (hopefully) an heir on the way? Left her when he'd spent how many years a bachelor, unable to find anyone he could tolerate enough to marry? He scoffed at the idea. No, never. Apparently neither Chloris nor Rabastan had heeded his request to inform Claudette he would not be arriving right away... or maybe they had. Claudette was a woman, after all, and they were prone to bouts of irrationality, especially while with child. He thought to scold her for thinking that, but he thought of the unborn child and decided against it. His reply was short, but for Aeneas, it was sweet. "No." He moved closer toward her and sat down next to her on the bed. "I would not do that." Claudette turned to look at him, not bothering to stop the tears that tracked their way down her cheeks. "I know. I know zat," she stated quickly, sniffling a little. "But zen you did not come, and I thought maybe zat 'orrible place 'ad done something to you..." It was difficult to explain what she was thinking, and she was more than certain that it was largely irrational on some level, but with the emotions of the day and the several days preceding, such a conclusion made sense in her mind. She sniffed again, looking down at her hands as she did. She wanted, very badly, to ask where Aeneas had been these past several days and why he had not come straight home to her (and the girls, of course), but for the life of her, Claudette couldn't think how to phrase it without it sounding terribly offensive. "Darling," Aeneas said, reaching over to brush the tears off her face. She was right about that place doing things to him. It did things to everyone, and even though he was feeling more like himself and his days in the prison already seemed quite far away, he was not at all the same as he was before he went in. "It was not easy in that horrible place," he used her words for Azkaban. "And I would not return home until I was certain I would be happy to see you." Certain he would be happy to see her? Claudette furrowed her brow as she thought about Aeneas' words. Could Azkaban really change someone that much? It obviously had not changed Aeneas as completely as she'd feared, else he wouldn't have cared if he could have been happy to see her, but at the same time, it was such a strange statement. "I do not understand," she admitted after a moment's thought, blushing as she made the admission. Playing dumb was one thing but actually not understanding something that seemed as if it should have been simple was embarrassing. Aeneas was not sure it was something he wanted to explain. He wasn't even sure if it was something he could explain. Claudette was his wife, yes, but that didn't mean he often shared his feelings with her. In this case, though, she looked so miserable and it had been so long since he'd even seen her, let alone touched her... "It is difficult to explain," he finally said, very slowly. "But there is no happiness in that place, and so when you come out, you are flooded with emotions but none of them are good." He closed his eyes; he didn't want to go on. Claudette still didn't completely understand Aeneas' motivations, but she was beginning to see things more clearly, and her heart was breaking for her husband. There would be time to understand properly later, she decided. Aeneas had not meant to hurt or scare her, and now he was home, and that was what mattered. Claudette put her hands on either side of his face, comfortingly. "I 'ave just missed you so much," she whispered, her voice growing thick with tears again. He said nothing at first, but reached out to her to pull her into an embrace. It was easier to cling to her when she was clinging to him, and he buried his nose in her hair, breathing in deeply and out again. "Come here," he growled to her, lifting her up and laying her onto the bed. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it behind him, the door closing and locking with a clunk. Now he would let her know how much he missed her too. |