She didn't understand how he could turn this around on her. How he could make her the bad guy, after everything that had happened. After everything that he had done. Yes, she was dating again. But they were separated. They were separated because of the choices that he had made. Because of what he had done. He and Wendy brought out the worst in each other, but she had never thought that it would go this far. The moment that it had, the moment that she realized it and realized that he did not even seem to feel bad about it, she had known that they had needed to separate. Titania had not bothered to explain those reasons to him, because she had known that he would try to talk her out of it. She hadn't wanted to let that happen.

Dating while separated... it was not cheating. It was an in-between. People dated on separations. That was allowed. It was her seeing other people while the inevitability of divorce lingered. Did she want to get divorced? She didn't know. Something had been holding her back, there was no doubt about that. But she had not been the one that had done him wrong. He had started that. He had made his choices, and she had responded to them the best way that she knew how.

"I didn't stop either!" Her words came out louder than before, actually yelling for the first time tonight. Titania knew that yelling wasn't wise. Zemfi was asleep, and while the twins and Olivette had both been out earlier, she didn't know if they were home by now. It was past midnight. The boys, at least, should be home. But for all she knew, Art had agreed to let them sleep over at their friend's without even asking him. Clearly, he thought he was allowed to do that sort of thing.

But still, she knew that she shouldn't yell. She just hadn't been able to help it. She had never stopped loving him. She couldn't if she tried for a thousand years. "Don't act like I don't have a right to be angry!" She had that right. And she had taken from him too, yes, but he had drawn first blood. That wasn't on her.

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Art looked at the woman in disbelief. With her, his anger had always been quick. It would flare up and burst before fading away. It only simmered with other people, never with Titania. With her, it flared, exploded and was gone. Tonight all that left him with was pain.

His wife was seeing someone else. Titania had kicked him out of their house just shy of a year ago...and over half that time she had been seeing someone else. Their marriage had meant that little to her. Twenty years together and she had not even mourned three months. She had just moved right on. That was what it looked like. Even though she was saying differently now. 

He leaned against the counter opposite her. His hands pressed into the stone. She was still fire, but he had turned to water. The woman was accusing him of having some problem with her being angry. That just wasn't the case. He did not expect anything less than ginger fury from his beautiful wife.

His voice was calm when he spoke again: "I never said you didn't." It was a simple reply. A simple audible acknowledgement by the man that she had every right to be angry. 

Anger had given way to all the other emotions he was feeling. Th weight of the loneliness of the last months pressed down on him and he regretted coming here. He regretted pushing about the prat his wife was seeing. It had been foolish--just like it had been foolish to touch her and kiss her. He could still feel her lips on his, her skin under his finger tips.... and it all just hurt.

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She didn't know what to do. This was a conversation that she had never thought that she would have. Maybe a part of her hadn't wanted to have it. It had been easier--to give him the silent treatment, to kick him out. It had been what she had needed to do. Her husband had done something unforgivable. She hadn't known how to get past that. But she had known that she had loved him regardless. She had known that she would love him no matter what he did, and that had been a terrifying thing to come to terms with. Titania hadn't wanted any part in that, and separating had been the answer. It had been the right thing to do -- it had felt like the only thing to do.

Earlier, she had been annoyed the closer he had gotten to her. He had been teasing her and had been trying to get his hand up her dress, and now every inch between them felt like they were miles away from each other. How could she miss him like this? How could she be so angry but also want him to close the space between them? He might have earlier. But the reality of her being without knickers because of another man had changed his tune. And that was on her.

She had not felt guilty for dating. It had been nice to have something normal. Something that easy and that was good. Somehow, now, she felt guilty. Seeing his reaction to it up close, seeing how much it hurt him... it made her feel guilty. It felt entirely unfair. "I..." She didn't know what to say. What was there even to say? She had slept with Marcus. Not regularly. But it had happened, on more than one occasion. Did it really matter that it hadn't happened tonight? "I didn't sleep with him tonight." She didn't know why she even admitted it to him, when it had done its job in pissing him off. Titania shouldn't have let the look on his face get to her. But she couldn't help it.

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Art didn't know what he was doing here. He had come for a reason, but that seemed so far away now. This had been a long overdue conversation, but it was one that hurt him to have.

They should have talked sooner. He should have made her face him. He had just been so consumed with finding the cure. He felt sure if he had that to offer her, she would forgive him. Everything would be find if he could fix it for her... But he hadn't found the answer. He didn't have a cure. He might have been close, but he wasn't sure.

And she had started dating so soon... it made him wonder if she had just been looking for a reason to end things. But she hadn't divorced him. She hadn't turned him in. It didn't make sense.

He looked at her with those big brown eyes. His face had fallen from playful and challenging to tired. He had been working eighty plus hour weeks for months now. It was wearing on the man. But why not? His family was lost to him... and Wendy-- she still had hers. She had just gone back to work. Life was still normal for her... it was far from normal for him.

He scoffed and shook his head at his wife's word. His grip on the counter was turning his knuckles white. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that." He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to be husband and wife. But were they that anymore?

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She knew that she had started dating quickly. They had been separated for only a couple of months. After being together for twenty years, three months was quick to start going on dates again. She knew that. But it wasn't as if she had been looking for it. She had just said yes when she had been asked.

It was because she had needed a distraction. She had needed someone to talk to. She had needed something lighthearted and easy. And after her husband had chosen unleashing an epidemic over her and his family, she had needed someone to find her attractive. Was that wrong? Was it wrong to want someone else to make her feel that way when her husband had thought his mission was more important than them?

Maybe. Maybe it had been wrong. Not technically -- there was no handbook telling people the right amount of time to start dating after a separation, especially when the person that they had separated from had created a biological weapon that changed their entire world. Was it that wrong, saying yes to someone that had asked her on a date?

The look in Art's eyes said yes. And she shouldn't care about that. She shouldn't care how he felt, because it was still hard to believe that he cared how she felt. Had he apologized for what had happened? No. He had said that he hadn't meant for her to get sick, but he had not apologized. Yet here she was, still feeling bad about what she had done. "I just... I needed someone. I needed something. I was barely holding it together." Why was she still explaining herself? Why did she still feel guilty?

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Art knew that he had put Titania in a completely uncharted territory. He had misled her. He had told her the research was for science, was for catharsis. He always knew somewhere deep inside that it was more than that. He knew that this present was always a possible future from that past. He knew, but he denied it. Maybe he even believed the lie himself...

But was that enough to throw away their life together? Was that enough to run to another man? He knew he had blame, but he really didn't think his wife was innocent either.

He gave a solemn nod as she explained herself further. Art did not like what she had to say. It didn't make him feel better. It didn't make her betrayal sting any less. But he listened. He heard her words. He internalized the reasoning. He forced his emotions aside and applied logic to the situation.

"Okay," he managed to say. It wasn't much in the way of a response, but it was an acknowledgment. "I could have been there for you...if you hadn't pushed me away." He held a hand up stalling her rebuttal. "I know why you did it. I understand that you didn't like me very much... But you didn't have to make me leave. You didn't have to kick me out. It didn't have to be this way. It could have been me instead of him. I'm your husband. I'm supposed to be the one you need. In sickness. In health. In good times and bad. Always." His voice was thick with emotion as he spoke. Art had always taken his wedding vows seriously. He'd never looked at another woman. Not in twenty years. Why would he? His wife was gorgeous and brilliant and fun. Why look elsewhere? She was who he loved. That was supposed to be forever. They were supposed to be forever.

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She didn't like the way that she felt. She didn't like Art's eyes on her like she had betrayed him. Like she was a whore for being with someone else. That was what he had said earlier. He had called her tawdry, he had called her another man's whore, and she shouldn't care about that. They were separated. That was the point of a separation. It was a break, of sorts. It was not as severe as divorce, but a middle ground where she could get her bearings.

He could have done the same. She didn't know how she would have felt if she had found out that he had been with someone else, but he could have. He could have gone on dates. He could have found a woman to flirt with and woo, one that did not know that he had created a biological weapon that had changed the face of the wizarding world. That could look at him and not see that. It would have been fair. She probably wouldn't have liked hearing about it, wouldn't have liked knowing that he was dating. But she wouldn't have thrown it back in his face either. Dating during a separation was not the same thing as cheating.

She glanced down at his words. She didn't know what to say. Titania wanted to stop feeling guilty when she hadn't felt like she had done anything wrong. Had she started dating quickly after separating with Art? Yes. But could he really blame her for needing a distraction? Was that so hard for him to understand? She wanted... Merlin, what did she even want? Earlier, she had wanted to throw something at him.

Now... now she just wanted to be close to him again. She felt the distance between them, and she didn't like it. It was what she had wanted earlier, but she didn't want it now. This argument and all of its revelations left her exhausted. Even if it was just for one night, she wanted him close to her. Even if everything went straight back to hell in the morning. She wanted to act on missing him just this one time. Then she could figure out the rest. "I do need you." She admitted, her gaze still on the floor.

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Everything was complicated. His world had spun out when Wendy disappeared... and Art was not sure it ever stabilized after that. He had made the knee jerk reaction to spread the virus. He had taken it all over the UK: England, Scotland, Ireland. Posh spots and shit holes alike had been targets. He had just wanted it to spread. If he was going to prison, he wanted it to be for something earth-shattering.

He hadn't ended up in prison though. Wendy had shown back up. He had gotten the body back. Months had passed and they were safe.

In those months, he had lost his wife though. Wendy still had her husband. Her life was not any different... And she did not care about working on the cure. She had been a help on the virus. But why would she want to have a cure unless it could cure her, too?

He didn't think he could do that....

Maybe. But he didn't think so.

He thought he could cure Titania, though. So, he worked night and day, trying to get that offering. If he could do that, he thought she would take him back. He thought she could forgive him, if he could fix her. Maybe...

But she had found comfort in another. Her needs had been met by someone else. Yet, here they stood with her saying she still needed him. That sparked hope in the man. He pushed off of the counter. "Let me be here for you," he urged. "Let me be your husband." At least for tonight. He wouldn't say those words but they hung in the air anyway.

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She hadn’t wanted to admit to even herself that she had missed him. But of course she had. She thought it would say a lot about their relationship if she had found it that easy to be away from him. If she hadn't missed him at all. He was a part of her. There was no forgetting him, and moving past him in nine months was an impossible thing. He had been her husband for twenty years. He had been her best friend for twenty years. She had laughed with him, cried on him, and squeezed his hand so hard that she'd broken one of his fingers when she’d been in labor with Vivien.

He had always been there for her. She had always been there for him. They’d had that sappy kind of relationship that friends teased them about but were secretly jealous of. It was an arrogant thing to say, but it was true. It wasn't that big of a secret that people had been jealous of their relationship. Most of them had even just said so. Their relationship had just always been strong. Stable. But it had never gotten boring either. It had always been passionate, with plenty of arguments and angry shags, and lovemaking that went long into the night. That had not stopped, not after twenty years of being together. And it was not something that was that easy to forget about.

And she hadn’t had that for the past months — going on a year. It was hard to believe that it had nearly been that long. But it had. And now... they were finally talking. Talking about what he had done, talking about what she had done. Titania knew that holding onto all of the reasons that she had been angry at him had probably not done her any good. It had just been bottling up in her since that day in September. But she knew that she had hurt him too. Maybe that was part of the reason why she’d dated. She’d known that it would hurt him. Even if she hadn't been the one that had told him about it, a part of her had known that he would find out. Someone would see her out, someone would bring it up to him. Maybe she had wanted him to feel a fraction of the pain that she was feeling. She didn't know. It was hard to know for sure.

She just knew that he was here now, and she needed him. Even if she wasn't sure if it was the right thing. Even if it was just for one night and even if she regretted it in the morning because nothing was solved. And nothing was solved. Just right at this moment, she didn't care. She needed him. So she nodded at his words, looking up at him again. ”Okay.”

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Art held his breath as he waited for her reaction. Would she accept him? Would she let them have tonight? He did not think tonight promised forever. It might have been a step in the right direction, but he did not promise they could be them again forever... Not matter how much he wanted to.

The witch said yes and that was all he needed. That affirmation was all it took for him to close the distance between them. His arms went around her in a tender embrace. He had shown force earlier, driven by anger... But now, he was a man surrendering to love. It was the easiest thing in the world to do.

He bent his head down to meet hers, bringing his lips over hers in a slow, languishing kiss. The affection professed so much of what he had failed to say. It was a manifestation of all those long, lonely nights. He was gentle. So gentle, sweet and appreciative of her lips on his. His eyes rested closed as his lips moved against hers. He held her close, treasuring the intimacy of the moment. Merlin, he had missed her so badly. 

"I love you," he promised, as he swept her up in his arms. Art would carry her to bed, just as he had a thousand times before. He would make love to her---and she would remember what is was to be his wife. He smiled at her very so slightly as he moved towards the stairs. This was a night long overdue. 

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