Forever Yours

Chapter 29: A Big Decision

The sun was starting to set in the west, as they arrived at the front door to the cabin. Bright pinks, purples and gold lit up the large lake; shadowing its' western shores from the great pines that surround it. Severus cast one more warming charm over the gardens, before following his wife and children into the house.

The smell of beef roast intruded his senses upon entering the kitchen. Katherine had prepared the meal earlier before leaving for the station; placing a stasis charm on the food before heading out. Removing his boots and cloak, Severus wandering into the kitchen, where he found Katherine levitating their dinner and plates to the table. He looked around noticing that Serenity had been placed in her chair between his own and Katherine's, but Septimus was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Septimus?" Severus asked, as he placed himself in his seat at the table, next to his daughter. Serenity cooed lightly and looked up him with her big ice blue eyes; her little arms waving erratically in his direction.

"I sent him off to wash up before dinner," Katherine said, as she levitated the last of the food to the table, before crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you think he looks ill?"

"I don't think he's ill Katherine," Severus replied, as he allowed one of his long digits to be captured within his daughter's grasps. "I think he's just stress with all of his exams coming."

"I hope that's all it is," Katherine sighed, before joining Severus at the table.

"Why?" Severus asked, raising his dark brows in her direction. "What do you think is wrong?"

"It's nothing," Katherine said, waving him off.

"Katherine," he warned her; knowing that Katherine's mind was working up something more than what the problem really could be.

"It's just that," Katherine sighed again; her blue eyes meeting Severus' black ones. "Helena looked a bit ill tonight and...I don't know...I just hope they haven't done anything rash."

"I'm sure they haven't done anything...rash," Severus stated, as he gently pried his finger from Serenity's hand. "They're not that foolish."

"We weren't much older than them when we had our first time," Katherine whispered.

"Yes, but there is an enormous difference between them and us," Severus pointed out. "They have or had a choice...we were forced." Upon the words leaving his lips, Severus realized how that must have sounds to his wife. It had sounded as though he regretted what happened between them.

"Katherine," Severus faltered slightly. "I didn't mean it the way it sounded..."

"No Sev," Katherine piped up, cutting him off. "You're right. We were forced into our first time..., but I like to hope that it still would have happened regardless of that fact."

"You know there can be no certainty that it would though," Severus commented. "Although looking back now, I wish I would have realized your feelings earlier. I might not have been stuck with that mark for all of those years. So many things might have been different, but I don't know if I would have wanted it to change."

"So you don't regret what happened that night all those years ago?" Katherine asked; her sapphire blue eyes searched his obsidian ones.

"I don't think that we would have continued on as we did..." Severus sighed, as he reached across the table and took one of the Katherine's hands in his own. "Or married...and remarried if I did regret it."

Their conversation died away, as the sound of footsteps thundered down the stairs. Septimus had changed out of his Muggle clothes and opted for a pair of pajama pants and an old faded t-shirt, sporting the logo of the Fitchburg Finches. The boy still looking completely drained, as he plunked himself down at the kitchen table.