*^*No, Bad Dog *^*

[Ginny Weasly]

Memories still trudged through her mind, but his voice cut above all of them. She heard his words, but couldn't respond. His words meant the world to her. That he loved her, that he didn't plan on leaving her was too joyous to comprehend in her drunken state.
She couldn't control her thoughts enough to string together a response.
The memories were becoming harsh now.
Painful, even as they were joyful.

"So your the girl who moved into the cottage up the road?" An older women peering at Ginny. Inspecting her.
Ginny smiled, "Yes." She is keeping the scowl from her face as the women's eyes move to her ever growing belly. The women has dislike written across her face. Her thoughts are easy to read.
Unwed pregnant teenagers. What is this world coming to?
Ginny's fists clench. How she wants to tear this woman's throat out.

"Sam, I can't do it. I need Xaver...I can't do this by myself!" She is crying, sobbing. Can't breath.
"You have to, Ginny! If you don't do it for you, do it for your child. Xaver's child!"
Ginny looked at him through tear filled eyes, "Fine."

Ginny held her newborn, exhausted, but so incredibly happy. She kissed his forehead, watching him sleep in the crook of her arm.
"My baby." She whispered, "My angel."

Cody as a chubby baby, sitting in a highchair, food all over the place. He clapped his hands, "Momma! Hungry!"

Two year old Cody, standing on the road near their home, facing away. His wings were out, folded against his back, and he shivered in the wind. His hair moved as the wind blew, and he let his wings out, wrapping them around himself to keep warm. He looked at Ginny, his face dirty and streaked from tears.
"Did my daddy love before he died?"

"Momma? Were you and Daddy in love?"
"Yes angel."

"Momma!" Cody shaking her in the middle of the night, "You were screaming! Are you alright, Momma?"
Ginny looked at him, moving over in the bed, "Lie with me, angel? Keep me safe from bad dreams, ok?"
Cody smiling as he climbs up beside her, "Course! Cause I'm you protector Momma."

The last, from only a few weeks ago. "Xerxes Codium Xian, I don't know what kind of fit you decided to have, but if you don't get your butt down here now, it's going to be plenty sore in a few minutes!"
Cody folded his arms, "No!"
"Cody. Now!" He makes no move to come from the sky to her. She sighs, "What do you want me to do, Cody?" She asked, "I can't get a hold of him! I've been trying, angel, but it's like the last time...." Ginny's voice cracked, and faltered, and she stopped speaking.

Ginny forced words out, as her grip weakened, "I tried, Xaver. I tried so hard. I don't think I can do it alone anymore, Xaver...oh baby, I love you. Don't...please don't leave..."
She leaned against him, her weight almost entirely upon him now.
So dizzy.
So tired.
"..me. I love..."

Her eyes closed, even as thoughts went through her mind once more.

"..you. No one else. You..."

[Xaver]

Her words were soft, and muffled against his chest, but, even amongst the upset of the tavern, and the hammering of his own heart, her tones had never been clearer.
He drew her to him, as she began to weaken, holding up her weight with little effort, and as she faded, and her soft words met him, he cast one last, scathing look in Sirius's direction, before bending down, and linking one arm beneath Ginny's knees, the other wrapped about her back, scooping her up into the circle of his arms, and holding her protectively close. He closed eyes that were burning with the restraint of holding back the tears that threatened so closely, and they were gone.

They appeared in their bedroom, and Xaver drew in a slow, uneven breath, gently depositing Ginny onto her side of the bed before perching at the edge, at her feet. Knowing now, that they were alone, and that Cody was safe with his grandparents, Xaver busied himself with the task of untying Ginny's shoes. Gently, and very slowly undoing the laces, and pulling them free, pulling her feet from her shoes, and then her socks, and tossing the articles into a small pile, on the floor.
Fighting back the knot in his throat.
Still very slowly, and with loving precision, he unclipped her cloak, and slid it out from beneath her, rising to manually hang it on the rack, beside the door. He hung it up, then paused for a moment, watching her from a distance, despite the ever looming nearness, uncertainty crossing him with such a force that tears clouded his vision, and his breath caught in his chest.

Xaver blinked, and jerked slightly as the pools at the corner of his eye spilled over, leaving a cool, salty trail. His hand flew to his face, and he frowned in both utmost confusion, and horror, skimming his fingers over his cheek, and trailing the wet droplet.

What was this?

He was leaking from his eyes?


Somewhere, in the back of his mind, it registered that he was crying.
He'd seen Cody cry, many times. And Ginny, and multiple others.
He, himself, however...

Xaver couldn't remember the last time he'd felt the sensation.
He supposed he must have been a child..   He must have cried at some point.
...He couldn't remember at all.


He stared, in both wonder and suppressed facination, at the silvery liquid that now stained his fingertips.

Unlike Cody, whom was half Human, and had not, obviously gained all of the Fallen traits, Xaver was a full Fallen, his heritage having remained isolated, for so long, amongst his own people, and his distant ancestors. His tears, were not the clear, salty goodness of normal tears. They were, indeed, salty, and damp droplets of the same principal, but instead, they were literally of a silver tint. Like watery, silver paint..

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny muttered something in her sleep, rolling over towards the middle of the bed and hugging herself. She pulled her knees up, curling up in the fetal position s many people do during nightmares.

"..Orry...so sorry..." She mumbled. She shivered in her sleep, her barriers still broken down completely. Allowing all empathic and psychic vibrations to enter her dreams.
She could feel his sadness.
She knew, though not consciously, that he was crying.
And she still apologized.

"Love you...Xav."

((Gonna stop trying to outdo Xaver. Cause I FAIL. XD))

[Xaver]

Her words, shook him from his trance. Her tones, brought him back from the upset of a new reality, and brought him foreword, one foot, after the other, to her. Slowly, he slipped out of his shoes, and socks, and his shirt, as well, then, not bothering with the rest, he dropped onto the soft bedding, scooting up behind her, and wrapped an arm about her middle, drawing her slender form flush against him, and bowing his face into the silken locks of the shock of her red hair.
Xaver murmured to her, soft, and reassuring words, holding her close, his wings shaking off their vanished state, and one wrapping around her, atop his arm, covering her from shoulder, to beyond her feet, like a thick, effective blanket. So that she was literally wrapped up in the hold of a Fallen - in every literal and personal means - within his protective embrace.

It wasn't long, before sleep overtook him, and, face bowed over her shoulder, he followed her to slumber..

[Ginny Weasly]

Pain...in her head. Her heart. Though at first, Ginny couldn't recall why. She closed her eyes tight against the pains she felt.
Then snapped them open with the memory of the night before. The sun had risen, and in their sleep, they had distangled slightly. Ginny pulled herself away from him, almost falling off the bed in her attempt to get away.

She didn't deserve that.
His holding her.
His apparent forgiveness.

She stumbled as she climbed off the bed, tripping herself up. But she didn't fall. She bit her lip to avoid making noise and made her way to the bathroom. Her head and heart hurt. But at least she could do something about her head..

Ginny felt around in the cupboard behind the mirror, looking for some advil or something. She was still slightly dizzy.
And she couldn't stop recalling the night in jumbled, jerky scenes.

Had she really kissed Sirius? Dam.nit, yes.
Had Xaver seen that, truthfully? Oh yeah.
Had he really forgiven her, at least for the night? Apparently.

"Dam.nit!" She yelled, swiping everything off the sink with her hand. Toothpaste, toothbrushes, a hairbrush, soap, assorted bottles, all fell to the floor with a muffle crash. She touched her head, "I'm so stupid!"

[Xaver]

He dreamt of meadows.
Long, streaming meadows in the crevices between rolling, lush mountainsides, the grasses thick and swaying in a breeze in a rhythmic, sensual dance, moving like liquid. He flew above the scenery, clothed in nothing but an armored plate over his lower middle, wings and arms spread wide, soaking up the sunlight, and the wind. He flew with the freedom of the wild, and there was nothing that could stop him... He was free...
Loud sounds, as nerve-racking as the heavy clanging of pots and pans seared in his ears, and he siezed, wings buckling  - and be began falling, in an impossible, downward spiral, the warmth of the sunlight gone...

Xaver jerked awake with a muffled hiss, sitting upright amid the mess of the bedcovers, blinking away the sleep that hazed his sight, and the ever-rattling sense that he was falling. At Ginny's cursing, he blinked, his mind spinning and thoughts reeling.

Was the night before even real?

He glanced at his hands, and the silvery stain over his fingertips hardened his jaw. He threw his legs over the side of the bed, and padded, quietly, to the bathroom, pausing to look at her, before he reached around her and plucked a handtowel from the rack, leaning back against the doorframe with an ease of laziness, his gaze flickering over the mess on the floor, before returning to her, in no mind to pick up. Not yet. He rubbed the towel over his fingers, staining the colored cloth with the silver excess.


"Good morning."

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny said nothing, just reached over and turned on the hot water to the sink. She bent over it, cupping her hands below the steaming water and splashing her face. The water was scalding hot, but she didn't notice. Her skin turned pink where the water touched it, and then even brighter from her rubbing the skin.

She snatched up another hand towel, drying her face with it roughly. She turned to water off and kicked a few of the things on the floor for good measure before she turned to walk from the bathroom.
To escape him.

Problem was, he was kinda in her way.
"Morning." She muttered,lowly, avoiding his face. "`Scuse me."

[Xaver]

Xaver watched her with a sort of mild facination.
Neither stopping her, or moving at all as she washed her face with overly-hot water, or shuffled about in an angry, restless manner.

She came toward him, moving, as if to go around him, and the towel dropped, his hand bracing the other side of the doorframe before the slice of fabric had even fallen an inch, let alone touched the ground.
He was sleepy, sure. But Xaver was a hard catch to be caught unawares.

"No," he said, very simply.
Gently.
The word rolling off his tongue almost easily, despite the discomfort of disuse.

"What is it?"

Straight to the point.
As was Xaver.

[Ginny Weasly]

She stopped, a mere inch or so away from him. She focused on the ground, her gaze determined not to meet his. She clenched her fists against her sides.

"Nothing. Let me through." Then, as an after thought, "Please."

She'd done something unforgivable last night. And although it seemed he'd forgiven her, for the most part, she couldn't let him. Because she couldn't forgive herself.
Stupid.
So stupid.

She winced as a stray thought entered her mind. She'd have to spend time that morning rebuilding her mental barriers.

[Xaver]

"Ginny."

He refused to bite down the determination to push through the barrier she was so forcefully trying to lodge between them.
Xaver shook his head, his arm dropping from the doorway, and fingers gently curling beneath her chin. Lifting upwards, and willing her to look at him.

Memories of the night before, prodded at him.
Like unholy, sinister creatures of the underworld, threatening to puncture the first unguarded vein..

[Ginny Weasly]

"Don't." Ginny snapped, taking a step back and pulling away.

"Don't." She shook her head, but couldn't take her eyes away from his. She clenched her fists tighter, "Don't you dare forgive me. Don't you dare."

She finally tore her eyes away, looking to the side, "Why would you? I obviously don't deserve it. Dam.nit, Xaver." She reached up, tugging on her hair roughly, "Your stupid."

Stupid for staying.
stupid for loving her.
Her guilt was high.
Self-resentment was setting in.

[Xaver]

She pulled away from him, and for a moment his hand remained suspended where she had been, before it dropped to his side. He literally flinched at her tone, then folded his arms, firmly, across his chest, wings a large and imposing presence behind him, twitching uncomfortably as she turned away from him. As she denied him.

"I believe it is in my power to do what I may, and will, and what I choose," he returned, rather sharply.

His head tipped to the side, very slightly, at her insult, blinking at it thoughtfully, whether she meant it or not.

[Ginny Weasly]

"Stupid." She said again. Ginny scowled darkly, not saying anything for a moment.

She folded her arms, kicking a bottle across the room. It rolled, bouncing off the wall lightly. She glared at it.
"Please, Lord Xaver, let me past." She was trying to irk him. Trying to make him angry.

She didn't want his forgiveness. She didn't deserve it, as least as far as she was concerned.
She looked up, locking her eyes onto his, "Just move."

[Xaver]

His lips instinctually quivered at her comment.
It didn't matter that she might have said it in truth and all honesty, but the passion behind her fit was endearing, to him, at least for the moment.

"Please, Lord Xaver, let me past."

Xaver's gaze flickered slightly.

"Snot," he retorted.


He shook his head slightly, though all movements simply ceased to be when she met his gaze.

"Why?"

[Ginny Weasly]

"Because I don't want to stand in the f.ucking bathroom all day!" Ginny snapped angrily. She frowned, scowling angrily.

"Just move." She snapped at him, her eyes beginning to tear up from frustration. His lack of anger was beginning to anger her.