Edward was leaning closer, his hands now rubbing through her hair as he was about to guide her down to lie on the mat. But she pulled back and he was left for a moment starring at her, lips parted and brows furrowed in confusion. She didn’t look convinced anymore and the auror’s stomach dropped as he watched her. He was a child having a everlasting lollipop waved in front of him. If only his chubby little hands could reach it! Nooo...please don’t let this happen Not after this long of going without. She’d been the only one for him, as much as she’d never believed that.

"Wait-"

A frown formed on Eddie’s face as his ex-wife glanced around the room. She really was playing with his heart now, amongst other things. He groaned slightly, wishing that maybe he hadn’t tried to push her. He was tired! He didn’t know what he was doing.

But then Quincy was looking back at him and that smile registered in his brain, causing him to smirk. He knew that look very well and willingly allowed her to pull him up to his feet. He didn’t take his bright green eyes off her as he stood.

“Yer not about to try hittin’ me again are ye?” He asked quietly as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips softly before pulling back and walking her backwards slowly towards the door to the hallway. “’cus I believe you got custody of the cuffs.”

---

---

9.02 am the following morning.


Quincy sat up suddenly, her eyes wide as she tried to let them adjust to the dark room. The alarm clock said 9.02 am, but the blackout curtains made it hard to decipher whether it was telling the truth or not. She pulled the white sheet up to under her arms as she looked down at the space on the bed next to her. Eddie was snoring, his arm stretched lazily across the bed where it had been draped over her during the night.

Quincy shoved him in the shoulder. "Ed." She hissed at him. He didn't move. He didn't even batter an eyelid. "Eddie!" She hissed a little louder as she gave a hard push into his arm in an attempt to rouse him from his slumber.

Edward was having the most contented sleep he’d had in a long time. No dreams (or ones he could recall) and no tossing and turning. He’d held Quincy close to him while they slept, enjoying the closeness that hadn’t been present for so long now. The warmth of her body and her breathing only comforted him, gave him the idea that things would now get better between him and her.

The first shove from the woman in the bed did nothing to stir Eddie from his deep slumber. He’d been very tired and made that even worse so he was entitled to be a little hard to wake up. He didn’t even register her voice until Quincy actually tried brutally pushing him from the bed.

Grumbling some expletives, Eddie rolled onto his back and slowly and reluctantly opened his eyes. “I knew ye’d hit me again.” He grunted, barely decipherable, looking up at the ceiling.

Eventually he began to wake up, and mumbled something about Quincy hitting him - though he was still rather groggy and was being quite incoherent. Quincy rolled her eyes. At least he was awake now.

"I heard a noise." She said simply. "Downstairs." She looked towards the door. The house was silent now, but she was sure she heard something. "And a fat lot of use you would be if you were being burgled!" She shoved him in the shoulder again, just to make sure he didn't drift off once more. "You would quite happily just lie there snoring." She wrinkled her nose up. "You really need to do something about your sinuses, Ed. It's not very flattering at all."

"I heard a noise."

Eddie’s eyes were already closed again as he lay there, yearning to go back to sleep. It was to dark in the room. She heard a noise…the kids were probably up, messing about downstairs. She’d have to go downstairs and tell them to hush because their dad was getting some well earned rest. Quincy had to stop being so over-reactive. Kids always got up early.

“Tell ‘em to get back to bed.” He mumbled in a more coherent manner than his last sleepy utterances.

"And a fat lot of use you would be if you were being burgled!"

She shoved him again! Was this beat up Eddie day!? He had enough of that at work. It was a good job he wasn’t in today. He was so unbelievably tired. But now he was being woken up by a very insensitive and grumpy woman. He grit his teeth and rolled over. “It’s me day off. I don’t have to be useful.” He grunted, burying his head in the soft pillow.

As Quincy carried on, Eddie slowly pushed himself up and his eyes shot around the room before they widened violently. He was well awake now. Especially since he could hear mumbled voices below them.

“Ye know I said this were me mate’s house and he’s outta’ town?” He glanced around to Quincy before letting out a gruff breath. “Ye need to go.” He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened when he was younger. Parents catching them at the age of 31 was even less cool.

Eddie started going on about telling the kids to be quiet. Apparently in his sleepy state, he thought they were back at their old house, just like the olden days. She couldn't help but smile at that as she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

Suddenly he was up like a shot, eyes wide open. Even in the very dim light of the room, she could see the panic in his eyes. “Ye know I said this were me mate’s house and he’s outta’ town?” Quincy's brow furrowed as she nodded. "Is that him? Is he back? Oh god!" She was up like a bolt of lightening. The sheet, however, was still wrapped around Eddie, and as she stood up it was pulled unceremoniously from around her body. "ARGH!" She exclaimed as she first of all tried to cover her dignity with her hands, but quickly decided that grabbing the sheet was the better idea as there was now footsteps coming up the stairs. She pulled the sheet as much as she could and wrapped it around herself trying to ensure that she was as covered as possible.

“Ye need to go.”

Quincy laughed out loud with disbelief. "You don't need to tell me that!" She hissed at him. "Where's my bra!?" She looked around frantically, but the bedroom door opened with a creak. Quincy turned her horrified face to the door, expecting to see a man in his mid-thirties. But no, it was much worse.

"Good morning, Quincy."

Edward's mother.

Quincy tried to force a smile as much as she could, but it faltered as his father appeared behind his wife, and grinned at his son. "Edward...Quincy. You look lovely, as always." Quincy didn't miss the wink that was sent to Edward, nor did she miss the sharp elbow jab in the stomach his father recieved from his mother.

This was possibly the most humiliating thing Quincy had ever experienced in her life.

Eddie had never seen his wife move so fast, except to chase after the kids if they were winding her up. And despite the situation they were in, Eddie couldn’t help but grin as she left herself uncovered. But then she started to cover herself up and this wouldn’t have been welcomed if he didn’t hear the approaching footsteps.

Suddenly the blanket was yanked off him and Eddie scrambled for it, grabbing it and tugging it back, pulling Quincy back down onto the bed so he could cover himself up. His parents didn’t need to see that as well. This was bad enough as it was.

"Where's my bra!?"

Eddie didn’t have time to tell Quincy that it was lying on the top of the stairs with her t-shirt before the door was unceremoniously pushed open and his eyes widened further as he swore under his breath. They weren’t supposed to be back for another few days!

There stood his mother, looking quite stunned; her eyebrows having disappeared beneath her fringe. And his Dad looked somewhat proud of his youngest son. Eddie pulled a face before trying to find any words to say. There weren’t any!

“Ye know me wife?” A pathetic attempt. This was humiliating and he felt like a kid once more. There was no way this was supposed to happen at his age with the woman he’d been married to for ten years.

"We’ll leave you to it.” His mother said softly. “It’s lovely to see you again, Quincy.”  And with that she practically shoved Charlie out of the room. Charlie however didn't leave until he'd made a parting comment of "Don't forget to clean my sheets" and then the door was shut.

“Ye know me wife?”

Quincy had to refrain from rolling her eyes while his parents were there. She had always tried to make the best impression, and she was sure that the current situation was causing her to fall far from the top of their esteem. Instead, she gave a nervous little giggle, as though none of this was really out of the norm, as though she was not perched on the edge of Edward Pratt's parents' bed, naked and wrapped in little more than what could be considered a loin cloth.

"We’ll leave you to it. It’s lovely to see you again, Quincy."

Quincy opened her mouth to say something along the lines of 'Don't leave on my account', but then realised quickly that them leaving was probably the best idea. It was already as awkward as she had thought it could possibly be, but she didn't want to tempt fate and see if it could be anymore so. His father's parting comment about cleaning the sheets, before his mother swiftly closed the door made what had been a furious blush threaten to burst out of her skin at any given moment.

The skin on her neck and chest started to go blotchy and she felt like she was going to hyperventilate. She sat as still as she could, her conscious brain trying to convince her that it was all a bad dream - to no avail.

"YOU!" She practially screamed at Eddie as she picked up a pillow and started battering him over the head with it, no longer caring that the sheet was not covering her anymore. "HOW - COULD - YOU - NOT -" [extra hard smack with her hand on the shoulder] "TELL - ME!?" She let out a wail of embarassment and fury as she threw herself back onto the bed and shoved the pillow over her face. "Just smother me now!" She said in a muffled voice. "Get it over and done with! I'd rather you did that than have to face your parents again."

"YOU!"

The scream brutally perforated Eddie’s delicate eardrum and before he knew it he was being bashed fiercely with a pillow. With each word screeched from her mouth, the pillow came down, Eddie arms trying to cover his head before she punched his shoulder. She had definitely gone full pelt with that abuse and Eddie was left feeling a little worse for wear.

Once the abuse had finally ceased, Eddie dropped his arms just in time to see Quincy dramatically fall back onto the bed and put the weapon over her head. She really did over react sometimes. What a drama witch.

"Just smother me now!"

At this point, despite their situation, Eddie couldn’t help but grin. He pulled himself up onto his knees and leaned over her, pulling the cushion off her face. “Our kids wouldn’t appreciate me killing ye.” He muttered before leaning down and kissing her forehead. “Don’t it remind ye of when we were teenagers?” Quincy probably couldn’t see the funny side right now. But Eddie wasn’t quite as dramatic as his wife.

Beaten into submission. That was what Quincy would have called it. The cushion was pulled away from her face, to reveal a pout on her lips and her hair in a mess around the pillow. She blew some hair out of her face towards Eddie, as a final attack.

“Our kids wouldn’t appreciate me killing ye.”

"Huh!" was all she could muster at that point in time. He leant down and kissed her forehead. Stubbornly she moved her head to the side, facing the window, though a little too late to avoid the kiss.

“Don’t it remind ye of when we were teenagers?”

The corner of her mouth pulled up slightly into a smile against her better judgement. She chastised herself mentally for allowing him to just make her smile at him like that. She was supposed to make him suffer, and realise that he had done wrong to lie to her. "A little bit too much." She stated. There was a pause before she spoke again. "Do we have to go down there and face them?" She asked, turning her head back to him again. "I mean, couldn't we apparate somewhere? My parents have the kids for the day, and it seems a shame to spend the day with your parents..." She trailled a finger up his arm suggestively, partly because she did want to spend the day with him, but mostly because she knew this would win him over and they would be able to make a quick, clean and unseen exit.

Well...perhaps not clean.

It was a relief to have Quincy actually speaking to Eddie was if she didn’t despise his very being. In fact, the woman was even smiling up at her ex-husband, obviously not giving a flying hippogriff’s bum that the sheet was doing little to cover her up. Not that Eddie was moaning about that, in fact it only made a smirk appear on his lips. At least she was comfortable with him again.

Eddie’s smile only intensified when Quincy made the assumption that they were going to spend the day together. He hadn’t even considered that she may but this would definitely make his only day this week off well worth it.

“Who said we could spend the day together?” Eddie asked plainly, running a hand through his dishevelled hair. His expression morphed into a fake frown before he spoke again. “I always reckoned you got on so well with me mam, though.” Poor Quincy. She could be wound up a little more before he practically leapt on the chance to spend the day with her after so long. He didn’t want to seem too eager after all.

“I’ll be glad to elope somewhere but we got to get yer bra off the landing first.” Finally Eddie allowed himself to grin broadly and he once again leaned over his ex-wife and planted a kiss on her lips, pulling away fairly quickly. “Get up then, woman.”

He was acting all macho, but Quincy could see in his eyes that he was about ready to jump and gobble her up as soon as the words left her mouth. She sat up on the bed and pulled the sheet once more under her arms, trying to latch onto what little dignity she had left.

“I always reckoned you got on so well with me mam, though.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I did. But I'm not sure she'll like me now, knowing that I've corrupted her son." She grinned devilishly. "I'm sure she always assumed that our children were created through immaculate conception." Eddie's mother had always shown a naive approach to her son's relationship with his wife. She had only allowed them to share a bed together once they were married, even though Quincy was already pregnant by this time - thus, clearly, they had shared a bed together at some point before then. And now, since they were technically divorced, Quincy assumed it would once more be taboo.

“I’ll be glad to elope somewhere but we got to get yer bra off the landing first.”

He leaned over and kissed her again, but this time on the lips. "I have a better idea." She stated, leaning over the side of the bed and picking his hooded fleece from the floor that he had been wearing that night, along with his boxer shorts. She pulled his boxers on, then fumbled with the sleeves of his hoody as she attempted to pull it over her head gracefully. "There." She said, a smug grin on her face as she smoother her hair back and pulled it into a bobble. "Now you need to sort yourself out." She motioned down at her attire. "I'm dressed." If the plan was to apparate straight back to her house, then this kind of get-up wasn't a problem. However, she drew the line at being seen in public in a pair of boxer shorts and a too-big hoody.