Tatiana knew that the case wouldn’t go on much longer, as the Auror office only had so many resources. Wasting their time on helping her this long had already made her feel bad, and she knew that more than likely he was getting pressure to solve or drop the case completely. Of course, she was completely prepared for that option, knowing that she would simply figure it out and make due with whatever happened. It wasn’t as if she could just stay with Ben indefinitely, and every day she was feeling guiltier about the trouble she was causing him. Perhaps they should just do something really dramatic to attempt to catch the stalker; Tatiana wouldn’t mind being bait if it helped to apprehend the bloke quicker. Or maybe it would just die down on its own eventually. She could just return to her apartment and be cautious until the bloke got bored. Though she realized that that could potentially mean he had turned his focus to someone else, and she didn’t want that either, as she would much rather it be her than have some other woman be the victim of all of this ridiculous emotional torment. Tatiana raised an eyebrow at Ben, still not all understanding his sudden reluctance to ask the questions he’d been wanting the answers to for weeks. “I don’t offend easily,” she said, dryly, unsure what he could possibly say that was offensive.

Her mother was being surprisingly easy to calm down today, a fact that she was grateful for. The last thing she wanted to occur was for her to have one of her violent episodes, where she would have trouble physically restraining her. Then, since Jen wasn’t there, she’d have to ask Ben for help, and she really would hate to have to do that. A few bruises from her mother’s tight grip and one smack was a relatively quiet day for the woman, something that Tatiana would actually have to deem a success at this point. “She hasn’t had a break in a month, so I haven’t the slightest idea,” Tatiana replied, shrugging. She felt awful that Jen had been on her own helping her mother for this long, and apparently it seemed that Tatiana was just going to feel guilty about just about everything going on in her life, “I’d tell you that you don’t have to wait, but somehow…” she cut off, shaking her head. There wasn’t a situation that didn’t make her feel like she wasn’t inconveniencing someone at this point, but she would just give the woman an extra long vacation and maybe buy her a trip somewhere once this was over, “I’ll call her,” she said instead, reaching behind her to pull the home phone off of the charger. Tatiana dialed the nurse, knowing the number by heart, before waiting for her to pick up, “Hey, Jen. I actually really have to run,” she paused for a moment, taking the final sip of her beer before picking it up and moving to throw it away, “Is everything all right?” Jen asked and Tatiana smiled slightly, finding it easier to act as though everything was normal when doing so, even though Jen couldn’t see her, “Oh, everything’s fine. Just a work emergency—like I said, it’s been absolutely nonstop lately,” she said, dismissively, waiting for the woman’s response, “All right, I can be back in ten, then. But you would tell me if something was wrong, right?” Tatiana's smile widened slightly, as she did like the woman. She did hope that Jen stayed around for a while, though she knew that her mother was incredibly hard to deal with for long periods of time, “Thanks, Jen. Yes, I promise I’d tell you if something was wrong. I owe you big though; you’re getting a paid vacation on me after… work dies down. See you soon, then,” she said, before hanging up. Once she returned the phone to its resting place, she leaned back against the counter, glancing at Ben, “Ten minutes,” she answered.

Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control and Benjamin really hated not having control. The Minister had been a headache to work with ever since he was voted into office, questioning every decision that Benjamin had made. Surely, he would be breathing down his neck over this case, something that Benjamin really wasn’t looking forward to. They butted heads, but probably because Benjamin had a heart whereas Durant seemed hell-bent on bringing all purebloods, Death Eaters, and their families to his idea of ‘justice’. It was ridiculous and absurd, but he was a great public speaker and had somehow convinced enough people of his ‘good’ intentions. Durant would rather see to it that a pureblooded infant was put out on the streets because they had no hope of being a vital part to the success of society, than to actually provide a home for that babe. It was disgusting and poor character, but it was the Minister that they had been lovingly graced with.

Benjamin shook his head of these thoughts, at least grateful that this case hadn’t yet been brought to the attention of the Minister, though that bloke stuck his nose in everything. It was only a matter of time, Benjamin knew. The Head of Aurors smiled at her statement, acknowledging the words. “We are in your mother’s house…I’ll keep work at work…and home…” he stated, smiling lightly. As much as he wanted to, he also knew it wasn’t necessary that he ask his questions, afraid he would set off the older woman again, thinking he was conspiring, or something.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” Benjamin tried to cut her off before she made the call, sighing in defeat as her phone was already dialing. He hadn’t wanted to make her feel like she had to leave her mother, but he certainly wasn’t going to leave them unprotected. Now, he just felt guilty that she had to call…whoever that was…to come back here. Surely, she could have stayed just a little bit longer to spend some time with her mother, not really sure when it was that she had even seen her mother last. Perhaps the woman was used to seeing her every week, not that he would have any clue on that matter. “Okay,” he answered, making a face. “You know, we could have stayed a bit longer. But I guess we can always come back…without you sneaking out of a window,” he joked lightly.

This entire situation had just been getting more ridiculous by the day, and it was getting to the point that she didn’t know what to do about it. Frazzled was the best word to describe her current state of mind, and normally she had complete control over any issue. How could she have taken care of her mother for this long, something that a lot of doctors had straight up told her that she not just shouldn’t do it, but that she couldn’t do it, and she couldn’t solve this one for herself? Tatiana was starting to believe that getting the auror office involved was a mistake, as it was taking up everyone’s time. At least before, it was just affecting her, but now there were too many parties involved. She knew it wouldn’t go on much longer, thankfully, as it was getting to the point that she’d rather it go back to just affecting her daily life and peace of mind and letting everyone else worry about more important issues going on. As far as she figured, there were only a few ways that this could go, and more than likely it would all end up absolutely fine. There was no harm in thinking optimistically, right? It certainly made her feel better about everything.

Tatiana wasn’t going to push the subject. If he didn’t want to ask, then she would happily accept that for the time being. It might give her time to let her get a bit more settled on the idea of having to tell Ben anything about her life that no one else knew. Besides, more than likely, an unfortunate end result of this case was going to be their relationship ending and then he could just forget everything she told him as it would no longer be relevant. That was logical enough, and she was nothing if not logical when a situation called for it, “All right, certainly not fighting you on that one,” she replied, shrugging. Perhaps this would also give her time to figure out what to say, as explaining anything else would be a lot easier if she knew how to say it all in the fewest amount of words as possible. This was not going to be an easy conversation in the slightest—for her, at least. She supposed anyone else would find that ridiculous, as it was just bloody talking, but it was going to be a challenge for her.

She knew that Ben would have literally sat there as long as she wanted to stay with her mother, but clearly she wasn’t going to put that on him. There was enough going on without him being forced to hang around here. Besides, she knew that the longer he stayed, the more likely it was that he’d witness one of her more violent delusions, or a full-on hallucination. They’d been lucky thus far, and she’d like to leave the house and keep it that way for now. “Trust me, it makes no difference to her if we go or stay. Hell, she thinks I’m the nurse and Jen is her daughter half of the time,” she joked. Just stopping by made her feel all right for now, knowing that nothing detrimental had happened since she’d been gone. Going from being there every day since her father left when she was nineteen to not being there for a month hadn’t helped her nerves, but they were setting slightly knowing that everything was good here, “Yes, I suppose I could be convinced to use the door next time,” Tatiana agreed, shrugging casually.

Benjamin knew that if the Minister heard that she had snuck out of their protection, that it would only fuel the fire that he was building. He would say that obviously she didn’t really want their help and that obviously it was in the best interest of the department for them to drop the case. Of course, Benjamin really hoped that no one would let it slip to the obnoxiously large ears that the Minister had lying about. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if the Minister already knew about the incident, now that he was thinking about it, knowing that the Minister was oh so very interested in finding anything that would discredit Benjamin from his current position. It was annoying, really, but it was something that Benjamin was used to facing so far. There would always be someone watching his every decision and action, ready to use it against him. However, he wasn’t going to let it affect how he lived his life.

He was watching her carefully, looking for any sign that she was going to have a breakdown. This was quite a lot for someone to handle, that much he knew, and thus far, she seemed to be holding herself together quite well. It was only a matter of time, he supposed, before it would all fit her. Hopefully by that time, the perpetrator would be caught and put away. He still had so many questions, but he was still biting his tongue, definitely not wanting the woman in the next room to overhear. She might look defenseless, but he knew better than to underestimate a mother thinking they had to protect their child. Mothers were particularly dangerous, he had discovered. Though, the second he returned home with Tia, he was going to start up on the questions again, starting with why she was ashamed of her past.

Benjamin nodded his head at her words, not really sure what to say. He did wonder if that really were the case about her mother, thinking that Tatiana was the nurse. That ought to be difficult on her, not being remembered by her own mother. “Oh good, and here I thought I would have to bribe you,” he joked lightly.

Her life was messy, complicated even, and if it weren’t for the fact that Jack had already been in her life for years upon the responsibility of her mother’s care falling on her, Tatiana would have said she’d never put that time of pressure on anyone. Even with Jack around, she had felt bad that he’d had to help take care of her, as she knew it was something that no one should have to do. She loved her mother, and her father apparently hadn’t loved either of them enough to stay, and that was fine with Tatiana now. As far as she was concerned, she was more than capable of taking care of everything, though Jen obviously had to help or else Tatiana would hardly even be able to work. Her mother really could be very rarely left alone—if one’s definition of being left alone was being in the other room away from her for a while under attentive supervision. There was a hell of a lot that could happen otherwise. This had taken up the large majority of her life for … well, a large majority of her life. Although many people might see her as hiding away her mother, or something of the like, she knew that she was doing what she had to do to keep her safe. Any time that she’d tried to take her out in public had ended horribly, and with her condition continuing to worsen, it was best to keep her here.

The stalking case had made that complicated, even before she went to the auror’s office. Even when she had been just starting to receive the letters, she had been ultra-cautious in making her way over here—she’d even opened a Floo at the house so that she could go straight from the Ministry with no risk of this mystery stalker to even know where she was going. Obviously, that was a risk if Jen was around, or if her mother was set off by the sound and thought that they were coming. But it had been necessary and seemed to work relatively well; no photographs had ever been from the house. She supposed she could have decided to stay there as opposed to going to the auror’s office, but that brought up another heap of potential problems. Getting sleep in this house was next to impossible.

Ben wanting her to stay with him had obviously caused the biggest problem as far as taking care as her mother was concerned, as well as having an Auror on her at all times. It was for her protection, she understood that, and she did feel better than she was on her own. But the amount of guilt that she had felt for leaving her mother for this long, partnered with the general stress she was feeling from this situation in general, hadn’t been easy to deal with. Add in staying with her boyfriend that she hadn’t been with nearly along to warrant that, and the fact that she still was quite sure that they wouldn’t be lasting long because of this, and that was another problem that this just brought up. The best option might actually be just letting this go and trying to simply ignore the stalker until he went away; but she supposed she would tell Ben whatever he wanted to know, when he finally did ask, and let him take it for there for just a bit longer. Past that, she knew that even if the case were dropped, he’d probably not give up on trying to find the bloke. If that happened, she would have to figure out a way to convince him otherwise, as she’d feel bad if this continued to be a hindrance on his life more than it already was.

This was the problem with dating. If anyone got to this, then they had gotten too close. Her mother was only her responsibility, and no one else’s. She could tell that he didn’t know what to think about her remark, even if she had said it in jest. It wasn’t like it was anything to be upset over; her different delusions made her think a hell of a lot, and some of them had her being far worse than a nurse. It was simply her disease, not her, though she hadn’t realized the difference until her early twenties. When she had been upset by what her mother did and said, everything became even more difficult, and Tatiana was certainly glad she was past the point where her mother could faze her. “Well, maybe I shouldn’t have given in so easily. What kind of bribe?” She asked, teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

It hadn’t been long that he had dated Tatiana and he wanted to know more about her. There was obviously a lot about her that he didn’t know, though that was understandable. It was irritating that she was an Unspeakable as most things in her file had actually been retracted, leaving him with a bunch of black spots and empty spaces. She was an open book, and yet….so secretive. He had secrets himself but he was finding that it was rather difficult. Relationships weren’t meant to have secrets, which lead him to believe that maybe relationships just weren’t for him. He shook that thought out of his head, wanting to focus on the case at hand. He needed Potter to focus on this case to make it come to a close before Durant gave him too much hell over it. Of course, he wanted it to come to a close for Tatiana, but that wasn’t at all what the Minister would be thinking. The Minister probably didn’t know how to care about anyone.

A part of him was slightly worried that the Minister would try to get Tatiana kicked off an Unspeakable since her stalker was around, probably claiming that it wasn’t protecting the confidentiality of the department. He probably blamed her for even having a stalker. Just the thought of the man was aggravating and Benjamin forced himself to stop thinking about work for the most part until they left. Well, that would be impossible to do, but he would try, he supposed.

Benjamin smirked at her response, shaking his head lightly. “Too late; I’ve already won,” he smirked, kissing her forehead.

When she had first brought this to the attention of the aurors’ office, and Ben a bit unwillingly, Tatiana hadn’t expected it to take this long to solve. She never thought that in a way that was dissing the office’s ability to fix it, it was more of the fact that she hadn’t exactly thought the bloke in question would be smart enough to hide from discovery for this period of time. Tatiana supposed that further proved that she’d made the right decision in going to them and not attempting to deal with on by herself if this bloke was really as smart as he was appearing to be. With how much Ben and Potter both seemed to work on it, she knew that it was trickier than anyone had probably originally thought it was going to be. She felt worse about that as every day went on, knowing that she was taking up this much of their time—she couldn’t for much longer, she knew that, and eventually she would have to get used to the idea of just trying to live normally until the stalker got bored. That shouldn’t be too difficult…she just probably wouldn’t go out much, really. Tatiana couldn’t imagine sitting in a bar or a restaurant trying to do anything while he could be watching. Not that she would ever admit that; she was still attempting to act as normal as possible, though she knew it probably wasn’t all that believable.

She glared at Ben dramatically at his words, an amused smile forming across her face. His mix between professionalism and them dating still gave her whiplash on occasion, but she knew that he probably had decent reasoning for having no desire to shag her anymore. He just wanted to focus on the case, which she understood since she wanted it to be over more than anyone, obviously. “Maybe next time,” Tatiana replied, her smile widening before she finally heard the front door open. Tatiana took a step back from Ben to put them at a more professional distance, just as Jen breezed into the room. “And I’m back,” she said, brightly, her gaze moving to Tatiana and the man that had come to the door. “You going to introduce me, Tia, or am I supposed to remain in the dark?” Jen asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tatiana knew that Jen would want information when a mysterious situation was right in front of her, but once again she found her more secretive instincts coming out. She didn’t tell Jen about her personal life—or her mother, for obvious reasons. And since her mother was in the other room and had a weird knack of overhearing precisely what she shouldn’t, it was safer to just not even going there, really. “Jen Hiat, Benjamin Duncanson,” Tatiana stated, raising her eyebrows in return at the woman as if asking if that was up to her satisfaction. “Ben works with me and Jen, clearly, is my mother’s nurse—here when I can’t be, which has been too much recently,” she added, wrinkling her nose at the thought. “I really am sorry about that, Jen. Paid vacation, I swear.”

Jen looked back over at the bloke at Tatiana’s words, wondering what was going on that would cause someone that the woman worked with to come over here. It was a bit unusual, she supposed, but she wouldn’t pry about it… now. “Nice to meet you, Ben,” she replied, before shaking her head at her patient’s daughter, “Tia, I don’t need a paid vacation. I was just worried about you. You go from being here every single day to not showing face for a month. I just about called the police half a dozen times, especially when I realized that you never did give me your mobile number, or your home phone.” Tatiana was grateful the woman actually hadn’t called the police, or that would have been a slightly awkward situation. Really, that would have been an entirely different mess to deal with. “Won’t happen again, I promise. Well, I might be busy for the next couple of weeks still, but then everything should clear up,” she paused for a moment, glancing at Ben before looking back at Jen, “But we really have to go—work emergency, like I said.” Jen nodded in response, before looking into the living room where Selma still sat. “I need to start some food and give her meds, anyhow. Bye.” She stated, before rustling in a nearby drawer for a moment to grab Selma’s pill organizer, and with that, she headed into the living room.

Benjamin hated stalkers; despised them, really. They were obnoxious criminals to try to capture as they were all vastly different. They had similar personality traits, but outwardly, they could look so incredibly different from the next. They each had their own agendas and they worked off of their timeline, whichever they desired. It wasn’t fair to Tatiana in the slightest. She shouldn’t have to live a certain way because some bloke was stalking her. She should feel comforted in her home, not afraid of being alone. Not only did she have to worry about being a pureblood, but now being alone was a ridiculous idea. With the amount of people that seemed to be attacking purebloods that either hadn’t chosen a side or had chosen the ‘wrong’ side in this upcoming war, Benjamin didn’t want to trust her being alone. This stalker could just be some angry bloke that was pissed that she was a ‘traitor’. It was despicable, really.

Now that the thought had crossed his mind, he was seeing how difficult it was to get the thought out of his head. He wanted to protect his girlfriend but he feared that the case would have to drop soon which would leave him without the ability to watch her every move. He was certain the stalker had known this, if he was smart enough. “Maybe next time,” he agreed with a nod and a smile. His feet moved at the sound of the door opening, wanting to make sure that the person entering was really who they were waiting for. He chuckled softly at the woman’s statement, which he assumed was Jen.

“Nice to meet you, Jen Hiat,” Benjamin grinned, reaching out his hand to shake her hand. He kept his face neutral, though he wanted to give Tatiana a look after hearing that she had visited every day only to never go again. He felt bad that she hadn’t trusted them with that information, making a note to make sure they could get her to visit her mother more often. Benjamin listened to the brief conversation before watching as Jen left to go see Tatiana’s mother. Benjamin turned his attention back to Tatiana, raising an eyebrow at her. “I’m not dropping this,” he smirked, indicating the conversation he just overheard. “Ready to go, Tia?” he asked, wanting to reach out his hand to hold hers, but prohibiting himself since he was just her ‘co-worker’ for the moment.

It really was born luck that Jen just happened to say something that would catch Ben’s interest like that. Knowing that she was normally here every day was a bit unfortunate, but she supposed she would have told him that anyway, assuming it came up in what was bound to be an incredibly long conversation once they got back to the apartment. Tatiana almost felt like she needed mental preparation for how much she was about to have to tell him, but he did deserve to know. She didn’t necessarily want him to know, but that was only because she was just used to having no one know what he was about to know about her. She was really hoping that wine was going to be involved in this conversation, though not firewhiskey as getting drunk obviously wouldn’t be a good idea. “Oh, I know you’re not,” she replied, shaking her head in slight amusement, as finding a bit of humor in him calling her out was making her feel better about the upcoming conversation.

At his words, Tatiana glanced into the living room to see that everything was going well in there, and that made her feel better about leaving. Jen would have everything well in hand for the time being, and she was sure that she would be back here before she knew it. Ben would probably want her to be able to come as much as she wanted, which she wasn’t sure that she would agree to. She didn’t want to make this situation any more difficult on him or the auror office by giving them an unsecure location to worry about. And she really didn’t want to risk her stalker finding out where her mother lived… she felt stupid even coming here today, really, knowing that he could have been watching and could have followed her here. “Ready,” she agreed, and although she was ready to go, she was more speaking about being ready for the incredibly stressful conversation that was about to occur. With one last look into the living room, Tatiana headed for the front door.

No one should have to live the way that Tatiana was being forced to live now. She should be able to visit her mother whenever she pleased and she shouldn’t have to sneak away to do it. Merlin, she shouldn’t even have to ask for permission to do so, obviously. Benjamin made a mental note to contact Potter to meet up later so that they could determine the next steps to take. Well, no. He supposed it was still Potter’s case and that Potter was in control of the next steps to take…for the most part, anyways. Benjamin knew that he was personally involved, but he couldn’t bloody help it. He wanted his girlfriend safe, damn it. He felt really damn guilty that Tatiana’s mother was probably suffering too, not understanding why her daughter was there every day one month and then the next, not at all. So many people were getting affected by this one individual and time was certainly running out. He supposed it was a good thing that they had such a great and willing nurse for Tatiana’s mother, but that didn’t change the fact that Tatiana wasn’t around.

“Well, as long as we’re on the same page,” he grinned, shrugging slightly. His eyes watched Tatiana carefully as she admitted that she was ready, taking a last look in the living room. They would certainly have to come back to allow these visitations to occur. He smiled towards the living room before following Tatiana out, ready to get her life back to as close as normal as it was before all of this.

--End Thread--