At first, Fleur stopped breathing. She decided it was best to hold her breath, to wait for a reaction, to stop letting life and air inside her body because both hurt if compared to his entirely lack of actions. Usually she was able to understand what was going through her husband’s mind simply by staring, but right now all of her efforts to search for a bit of emotion were pointless. There was nothing that. That is, until… until he did something. He started laughing? Laughing?! She had kept the secret for more than a month - although she received confirmation only almost 4 weeks before -, suffered because of their distance and felt like the world was ending and now he was laughing? Really? Laughing?
But then, the storm inside her heart calmed down. Then, she inspected his face for more than a few seconds and what she saw there was enough to make her relax, and breathe again, and then smile… A tiny, short one, but also sweet. He was laughing! And crying! And it was for happiness, not anger, not hurt, no, he had taken the news in a good way. At least close to a good way. He hugged her, which was way better than most reactions she imagined, and seemed genuinely happy and… well, it was still a little weird but at the very least her exasperation disappeared.
That is, until the news sucked in. She noticed the moment, of course she did. She noticed how the hug wasn’t so tight anymore, and how his laughter slowly stopped, until it was only a memory. She realized way too soon her feet was on the sand and she wasn’t that happy anymore. No, now he showed pain and hurt, exactly what she was trying to avoid, exactly the same set of emotions that led her to suffering. She hated hurting the man she loved. She hated hurting one of the few people that ever saw through her, that saw more than a beautiful face. She realized a few tears were falling off of her face again, even if only a little.
“I… I…” She opened her mouth, but found it impossible to form a coherent explanation, one that would stop the hurting. There wasn’t one. Not a good one, at least. “Four weeks.” Her body tensed, and it took a lot of effort not to touch him and to stare at his eyes still. “I ‘ad a feeling for one month and a half now, but I only got the confirmation almost four weeks ago.” She took her hands to her hair, needing to put them somewhere, fixing the strands falling in her face.
“I trust you. Bill, of course I do, I… It wasn’t because of trust zat I didn’t tell you. It’s just… First some young Death Eaters were released, zhen Victoire had zat terrible fever, and when I thought it was ze right moment ze breakout occurred. I just… I didn’t want to tell zis when you weren’t on your best moment. I’m sorry, I should 'ave.”
She didn’t realize it at first, but her right hand searched for his left one, and she gently brought it to her face, letting him caress her skin, or at least asking him to do so. She kept staring, though, even after she realized what she had done. “I love you, William” The words were easy. The easiest so far. It was the truth, after all. Nothing would be able to change that, she knew.
“Je t'aime. I just… I think I thought I 'ad to protect you. And I was wrong, but I realized at too late.” And the tears kept falling and she had her right hand in the same position, before moving it to his face, wanting to touch him and feel him and still have his stare searching for her eyes, preferably not showing that much pain. She wanted his love, nothing else.
Bill listened to her carefully, no matter how hurt he actually was. He tried to understand her though. They all have had a a hard time with the news lately, most of the prisoners being freed earlier than expected, triggering back the memories from the past 4 years yet he still felt betrayed. As Fleur said it had been four weeks since she had known, he felt as if someone had stab him. He winced a little but try to shake it off by looking at the ocean again. He nodded and looked back at her, seeing as tears started to form on her eyes.
They were a team, they didn’t just keep secrets from each other like that. She tried to explain herself and the words hurt a little, even though he understood them all. Suddenly he felt his hand raise up and caressed his wife’s cheek. He gave her a sad smile and caressed the soft skin with his thumb, trying to wipe away the tears.
Bill nodded at Fleur’s pleas and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. “I know, I know...” He said in almost a whisper and then pressed his lips on her forehead. “And I love you.” He said as he looked into his eyes. “That’s the reason why we are team, we’re together through the good, and the bad and the ugly...” he said with a small reasuring smile. “I don’t...I don’t need you to protect me. I can take a few punches” he said with a brief wink. “What I do need from you is...” he said as he cupped her face. “to be in your life. Don’t....don’t shut me out, Fleur. I can’t take that...I can’t.” he said as he shook his head. “I can’t lose you or Victoire or...”he said as he looked down and chuckled a bit. “Or our baby...please. Do you understand that?”
