Between long days of work and dedicating a lot of their free time to family and friends, it hardly felt like Renata and James had a moment to themselves as a couple. Whether it was one working later than the other, exhausted so they fell into bed, or were called upon by someone for assistance, date nights had taken a hit. However, they weren't the only ones to notice and leave it to the man that got them together in the first place to assist with allowing them to take a night off. When Sirius came knocking on their door one Friday morning, James and Renata should have known something was up right away. Especially since Sirius greeted them with such a smile that noted he had a plan all worked out.
But he claimed that he wasn't there with any hidden motives or ill intent, he simply wanted to share a nice weekend with his favourite (and only) godson, Harry.
Thinking back to when Sirius had tried to set them up on their first date, which hadn't exactly gone as planned, James and Renata figured it out rather quickly. However, at the time as the two looked at one another, they could admit that they could use a couple of days to themselves. It would nice not to play host to a slumber party or be called upon for something, it would just be the two of them and with the offer on the table, it didn't take James or Renata long to agree to it.
Sirius had never seen them pack a bag for Harry so quickly, even with the use of magic and within just a few minutes, they were being waved out the door. Sirius had a hold of Harry's hand, the two of them looking at each other as the front door to the Potter Cottage was closed behind them.
"Well then," Sirius muttered, " apparently I should have made the offer a lot sooner, they seemed slightly desperate, didn't they?"
Taking Harry's hand, Sirius led the way as they were going to be meeting Adelmo for a late lunch after the Healer was off his shift. And then they would have the weekend together to play the Spoiling Uncles to Harry.
Meanwhile, back inside the cottage, Renata was slightly embarrassed that it looked like they were too quick to get rid of Harry for a couple of days. It wasn't like they had grown tired of him, it was just a nice opportunity to be able to be around each other without having to include Harry in just about everything. The parent life was a long and hard one, some days, including their careers and with how young they were, they probably never expected a quiet home to sound so good. She hoped that James didn't take it in the wrong manner, believing that she was growing tired of anything, but as she turned to him to explain, there was obviously no need.
The cheeky grin on James' face said it all.
It seemed he had been refraining from grabbing her right at the moment, just to make sure that Sirius and Harry didn't return to the home after forgetting something. But the coast seemed clear enough for him as he reached out and gently pulled Renata towards him.
"Is it possible to live under the same roof as someone and actually miss them?" he questioned. "Because I miss you."
Before she could answer, James hardly waited as he brought her into a strong kiss. And just like that, Renata was transported to the time where James had first kissed her on the steps of the old flat. The way he held her tight as if he couldn't stand any sort of gap being between them. The way he kissed her appeared to be more than enough evidence that he did miss her and in a way, she knew what he was talking about, she missed him too.
She missed the earlier days where it really was just the three of them in the small flat, spending the majority of the day together. It was before they had taken on their jobs, and their only full-time jobs had really been raising Harry and healing themselves. And while they had turned their lives into something successful, it just didn't seem to hold the same feeling as it did before.
"Let's go on a date tonight," James suggested after he pulled away, leaning his head against hers, " anywhere you want to go. Whether it be Putney's or even Paris."
"Paris?" she chuckled, registering his excitement that brought her to smile. "For a date night?"
"Or a date weekend," he replied, " after all, Sirius is keeping Harry until Sunday. We could do it, wouldn't take much to get over there. Whatever you want to do, I'm up for it."
"Well, I don't think I'm in any proper form to go to Paris," Renata said, regarding her clothing and hair. Quite frankly, if she viewed herself in the mirror, she was only going to witness a mess of a woman. " I think the Parisians would chase me out with pitchforks and fire at this rate. I could use a nice bath after playing with Harry outside this morning."
"Then why don't you go do that?" James prompted her. "We have time."
A warm bath really did sound good to Renata as she nodded her head and started towards the stairs. She could hear James trailing behind her before a playful smack was delivered to her backside causing her to jump slightly on the step. She looked over her shoulder and James gave a playful growl, a warning that he was about to get her if she didn't run. With a mix of a squeal and laughter, Renata started running up the remaining steps with James in hot pursuit.
She managed to make it down the long stretch towards the bedroom and even into the room, but as she neared the bed, James caught up with her and tackled her back. He certainly appeared to be in a bit of frisky mood, not that Renata was complaining in the slightest. It was difficult to get any "alone" time when Harry was around simply because he was usually awake and ready to go do something. Not to mention, when he was asleep, Renata and James weren't far off with entering dream world either.
"Mr Potter," she called to him playfully as he left a trail of kisses up the side of her neck and along her jawline, " I'm supposed to be taking a bath, remember? You said it yourself, we have time."
At the sound of being called Mr Potter, James jerked his head back and narrowed his eyes at her teasing tone. He moved off of her, allowing her to sit up before he spoke. "Fine, fine, go take your bath," he grumbled.
Renata smiled as she headed towards the doorway and as she reached the doorframe, she paused and glanced over her shoulder. "You could always join me, you know?"
Like a child being told that he could dip his hand into the sweets jar, James' expression quickly lightened as his eyes widened and his own smile returned. As Renata disappeared around the corner, he quickly pushed himself up to follow as if he was being pulled on an invisible leash.
Between the hot water, the lavish amount of bubbles, and her back leaning against James' chest, Renata couldn't even think of a more relaxing scenario. Her eyes were closed and with her head leaning back against James' shoulder, she could have easily fallen asleep. But as his hands massaged over her shoulders, and the rest of her body, it was clear that he wasn't trying to lull her into a nap.
"You know how you asked earlier if it was possible to miss someone, even if they're under the same roof as you?" Renata questioned. "Does that mean that we're growing distant with one another?"
James' hands came to a sudden stop as the question caught him off guard, but he didn't hesitate to answer. "No, I don't think I would call it distant, I just think we've been running all over the place, trying to keep up with everyone else that we put ourselves last. Why, do you feel like we've become distant?"
"I don't think so," she said, " but I don't know another word that describes it. I just...I was thinking earlier when we were downstairs about how much I miss it when it was just the three of us back at the flat. Occasionally, Sirius, Adelmo and even Remus would come over, or Harry would have his friends, but really, at the end of the day, we were always together. Now it's just...one of us being here or there...you know? Either I'm at the restaurant or here with Harry, or you're away with matches or here with Harry..."
It was quiet for a moment and Renata thought she had said the wrong thing, but it was just her own paranoia as James was trying to gather what he was going to say.
"It was your dream to run a restaurant, wasn't it?" he finally said. "And I wanted to always do something with Quidditch...but...we're not that happy with it, are we?"
"I love the restaurant," Renata told him, " it was one of the most amazing gifts and we put so much work and effort into bringing it to life. It's everything I ever imagined it to be, but in my dreams, it wasn't that busy, I guess. That's the bad part about dreams, isn't it? You don't really see the negatives. I love everything that has been accomplished, but nothing brings me that same joy to when I was Harry's nanny or when we first got together because there wasn't anything else...there..."
She shifted around in the tub so that she was able to face him.
"The restaurant was one of my first dreams and I think I wanted it more than anything, basically because I couldn't have it. Between my parents always dictating what I did in life, I felt like something like that could be my own. But that was before I experienced what it was like to be with you and Harry, during those moments, I didn't need anything else, I didn't want anything else. I love being home and watching Harry grow, I love it when you're home. I like when we go places as a family."
"I know what you mean, Ren," James said, " I feel like I've been missing out on so much recently. Every time I come home and you have all these stories about what happened with Harry or something with the Burrow. I don't see everyone as much, especially if I'm travelling, and when I come home, I'm tired or you're tired from being at the restaurant all day. I feel like we're not becoming distant, we're just missing out on a lot unlike how it was before."
"So what does this mean?" Renata asked quietly. "We're not quitting, are we?"
"No, I wouldn't call it quitting, Ren," he told her, " I see it as more of us focusing on what we find to be more important. We had everything we wanted before, so why not go back to it?"
"But what about the restaurant or your position?"
James had her relax back into him, as he leant back as well. "We can always hire more staff, management wise to look after the restaurant, that way you're still the owner, but you can step back. And Quidditch has been around for hundreds of years, it'll always be there when I decide to come back. I think this will be good for all of us, and I know Harry will be happy too. We won't be stretching ourselves thin and it'll be like old times again. And maybe, down the road, when we're ready to try again, we can."
Renata seemed a little hesitant because she didn't want it to come across that she was giving up just because things were getting hard. Even with James reassuring her that they were more than financially stable to do as they pleased, there was always a nagging motion at the back of her head. After failing at so many jobs, she didn't want to think of it as taking another loss. But she pushed through it, ignoring all the words that her mother had thrown at her when it came to failure and such because Renata continued to succeed at one job above all.
She was a mother to Harry first and foremost and she had yet to fail.
"Sleep on it," James told her, after she remained quiet for a couple of minutes, " no need to make a decision right away."
"Do you plan on letting me actually sleep this weekend?"
"Oh, it's like you're a Seer, Ren."