How long had it been since he had gone on an actual date?  And more than that did he even have a right to call it that?  He was 42 years old, easily ten years older than Claudia.  Yet here he was in his dark semi-formal clothing about to knock on the door of her residence.  He wasn't even sure how he could tell his daughter that he was going on a date with a woman only a few years older than her.  No that would definately not go over well. 

Still there was a part of him that knew why he was doing this.  Sure, he was no longer apart of the Ministry.  At least officially.  But he still had that desire in him to make people feel safe.  Claudia no longer felt that, and he had picked that up almost instantly.  She had changed a bit, and that most likely due to her run-in with the werewolf pack.  If his daughter hadn't been there it would have been worse, much worse.  Plus he had not been as blind to Claudia's previous advance on him as he let on.  However, he had been a Department Head and always preoccupied with various other matters.  There was a lot less occupying his time now. 

He had no real plans for the evening though.  His plan was to take her back to the Burning Pot and try and get her to have as much fun as possible.  Or something along those lines.  He had recently expanded the Burning Pot for new clients and his new buisness endeavors.  Currently only the Minister of Magic himself new of his plans.  But his old partner always knew what he was up to, except maybe this.

Stepping forward to the door, he knocked four times and waited.

Looking in the mirror, applying the smokey colored eyeshadow, Claudia smirked slightly as the thought of the plans for the evening that still surprised her a bit.  At one time attempting to get Alex's attention had simply been apart of the game she played.  Every failed attempt had only seemed to make her more interested in him.

The woman staring back at her certainly looked the same as she did back in May.  Same hair, same makeup, same style clothing.  Of course, her perspective on the world and, on a more personal level, her life had been thoroughly shaken ending her little games.  She wasn't infallible both physically and emotionally and that had been a hard lesson to learn.  In the past few years never had she considered the fact that a night out might put her in a position she couldn't handle.  She was intelligent and capable...she wasn't really supposed to need protecting from anything.

Making her way out of the washroom, she grabbed a black coat from the closet, tossing it over the back of her sofa as she moved towards where she had left the pair of heels she had chosen for the evening.  She thought back to two weeks prior and the date with Hayden.  That had seemed to go well, but part of her felt like she wasn't completely being herself with him.  She needed balance, and finding that wasn't really going to be easy.

As she slipped her shoes on she heard four knocks on the door.  This evening should be interesting to say the least.  She didn't feel the pressure she had with Hayden, and perhaps that was because with him she had been trying entirely too hard and set the standards far too high.  She had done enough pretending and changing for men before she swore off meaningful relationships, she could see herself doing that with him which, paired with all of her other uncertainties, terrified her.

Pushing that from her mind she made her way to the door.  Opening it, she smiled, not entirely sure what to say to him.  In the office it had been easy, there had been a pattern.  This was completely outside of that.

"Hey Alex," she said.  "Let me just grab my purse and coat and I'll be all set."

Outfit

He stumbled to reach his voice and instead gave a smile and a curt nod.  As she went to quickly gater the last couple items she needed, Alex couldn't help but have his thoughts creep up on him.  When was the last time he allowed himself such simple pleasures?  No, it was because of all the work he had dedicated himself too.  Because even after finding those responsible for Ariella's death, he had never really dealt with her being gone.  Instead he buried himself in work...thinking that somehow she would be at home waiting for him.  Instead that time drove to make him inable to see simple things in front of him.  Despite what he thought, Alex became quite the politician, deep in his work, but unlike others the work had been all there was.

Would Ariella be happy for him?  Finally trying to enjoy something for himself?  Or was he?  Wasn't he trying to help Claudia to get over the events that had happened to her?  Alex didn't really know.  And it was probably better for it.  The thing was, he had never dated anyone other than Ariella, there had only ever been her.  So Alex knew just about as much about dating as a awkward teenage boy.  And against the likes of Claudia, this would probably wager on the top of his bad ideas chart.

The red dress that Claudia wore...it reminded him of something.  What was it?

***

"So what do you think?" asked a rather persistant voice.  Alex looked over and did his best to look uninterested, a feat that was incredibly hard to do, but he believed he pulled it off.  "Don't give me that Alex.  I brought you because I want your opinion."

"Wouldn't you rather have the opinion of one of your girlfriends?  I'm sure Christina would have been more than happy to..." Alex started and got up.  "...Sorry this isn't my thing, I'll just go."

But as he turned to leave a gentle hand stopped him, just like she had so many times before.  When he looked back, Ariella in all her glory stood with a large smile.  "I want your opinion, Alex.  You are the only one who is ever honest with me.  Now tell me, what do you think of this dress?"

Sighing, he took a step back to take a good look at it.  A vibrant red with a gold pattern went over the dress, definately very Gryffindor like.  But the way her hair hung and how it seemed to show off her body in a much different light than usual made it...Alex tore his look away, "You look beautiful." 

It was silent between them for a long moment, "Alex there is something I've been meaning to ask you."  Ariella said in a low breath.  Alex looked up at her and she seemed sad in a way, "You'll take me dancing sometime right?"

***

Less than a week later Alex had taken Ariella out.  They had been dating for a while at that point.  But Ariella thought they had been growing apart.  And maybe they had been, Alex had preoccupied with all the other drama that had been going on at that time in his life.  But that was so long ago...almost like a different lifetime.  It almost felt like his time with Ariella hadn't been his, like it was someone elses memories.  Had he really cut all of those from himself for that long?

Soon, Claudia returned.  He offered her a smile, "You look quite lovely, Ms. Vespucciano." Adding a wink he offered to take her hand.  She was quite beautiful in that outfit, but then again she was already quite the attractive woman.  Inside him his thoughts waged war on his memories.  Things that had been long gone.  Was it because he was trying to live a bit?  He had no plans on what would happen, where would things go, or whatever.  But whatever did happen, he knew he had to deal with himself if he was ever going to be capable of making someone else happy.

Turning away from the door, she grabbed her coat from where it lay discarded on the sofa, putting it on over the red dress she had finally settled on for the evening.  Three other lay discarded in the bedroom after having decided something didn’t seem right when she tried them on.  Leaving the coat untied so the curve hugging dress could still be seen she snuck a quick peak in Alex’s direction in the open doorway as she moved to retrieve her purse from the table.

She knew the basics of his past, although she had never delved too deeply into the detail.  At that point details hadn’t mattered much to her, now though she was curious.  Avoidance of the particulars had been one defense mechanism, work had been another.  Work had always been a convenient excuse and in her current position she could always find more of it to occupy her time when necessary.

She could pinpoint nearly every moment that had led her to where she was now.  She had met the first man she ever loved shortly after accepting a position at the Ministry.  She had done everything to try to please him, to try to hold on to even though it became quickly apparent that the relationship wasn’t going to work.  She had lost a lot of herself during the months she spent trying to be his idea of a perfect girlfriend.  There were a few other men to come into her life before Archer was the last to capture a piece of her heart for a time.  That of course had never truly been meant to be, and had not been helped by the fact that she still was unsure of herself as an independent being.

Going out with someone and going out on a date with someone were two very different occurrences in her mind.  To her a date required her guard to drop a bit, it required actual feeling.  Sometimes she wondered if she still knew how to drop the façade of being this woman who seemed to only be about the more superficial things in life.

Moving back to the door, she set the lock as she stepped through and let it close behind her.  The complement followed by his wink caused her to smile, and she felt a slight blush creep into her cheeks.  She had never been prone to blushing, but perhaps it had more to do with the fact that before she rarely let herself actually feel anything that could be considered real.  It really had been entirely too long since she had let anyone in and she knew it wasn’t going to happen over night.

“Thank you,” she said, taking his hand, nerves pushed aside for the time being.  “So, where are we off to?”

"No where that special or fancy.  Those places tend to be uptight and full of people I'd rather not see.  So in order to ensure that my return to London is kept to a minimum and where I can assure the most for our enjoyment, I decided on a rather normal place," he gave a grin as he proceeded to lead her out.  It was definately odd, this exchange, but somehow refreshing.  The feeling of nostalgia was begining to make him feel old.  Which might be more so considering he was ten years older easily than Claudia.  Then again he had often been told that he was a grumpy old man even when he was a teenager, but that had just been Ariella teasing him.  Mostly because she believed he looked too serious all the time.

His thoughts kept drifting back to Ariella, and he definately started noticing that trend.  It was to the point that he had relaxed his mental guard because his mind was so distracted by it.  The long and truth of it was simple, and was staring him right in the face.  He had never truly dealt with Ariella's death.  He had pushed it aside...focused on other things.  For god's sake he had ignored his own daughter because of his inability to deal with her death.  But she meant so much to him, because she had come in a time where he had nothing.  No one cared for him, showed an inkling of interest in him.  Not until the day he literally got ran over by Ariella.  Sure she was a clutz and a brainiac.  But she never went away...she stayed when no one else would.

What was the point in dragging himself through those memories?  It wasn't going to serve any purpose here and now.  He wasn't here for himself, not this time, and probably never would.  He wanted Claudia to feel...well, better.  There was just something that had inspired him to ask her, so he was inclined to go through with it.  Because something in his gut told him to do it.  And he had a reputation of his gut feeling being right.

"The Burning Pot, of course.  I recently expanded our menu, and also expanded the place itself.  I think you might like the changes," he gave her a warm smile.  Outside sat a muggle car, a black nissan economy car, nothing fancy.  But it suit Alex's taste.  "Might be slower but my restuarant is in muggle London.  The staff doesn't quite understand how I can keep coming out from my office when they very clearly saw me leave."

A normal place.  After the grandeur of playing tour guide in Rome, she certainly liked the idea.  It kept the pressure to put on airs and impress at more of a minimum and it would mean they could actually spend the evening hopefully enjoying each other’s company instead of worrying about the rest of London.  Perhaps in a way that was something she usually tended to do wrong when it came to spending time with another – she set the level of expectations entirely too high.

She had been to The Burning Pot a few times, but not recently.  She had liked it, but perhaps it had been the desire to keep her interactions with Alex to the work place had caused her to keep her distance.  As a woman of habit and patterns it didn’t really seem to fit in the past, perhaps that was why now it seemed like the best possible idea.  It wasn’t the sort of ‘fun’ she tended to have, but that wasn’t really serving her very well any more and the chance to try something different was most welcome.

"Might be slower but my restaurant is in muggle London.  The staff doesn't quite understand how I can keep coming out from my office when they very clearly saw me leave."

“I’d imagine that can get a bit awkward,” she said, laughing slightly, trying not to look nervous as she eyed the car.  “Very few of my family members know that I’m a witch…I find myself doing quite a bit of verbal dancing around the details of my life during visits.  The use of discretion does tend to keep one on their toes.”

It had been a while since she had traveled in a car, usually giving in to the much easier versions of Wizarding transportation.  The last time she had been in a car she could remember being in the passenger seat speeding along the coast of the Mediterranean.  She had made most of that trip fighting the urge to close her eyes as the coast zipped by.  It seemed brooms, floo networks, and apparation she could handle without a problem, but the mode of transportation from the world she had been born into and one less then safe driver had left her less then anxious to get back into a Muggle vehicle.  Reminding herself this was a completely different situation she pushed the thought from her mind.

"Yes, plus I'd rather not have to bring in any obliviators for that reason.  They are a good crew.  Never really saw them much till recently.  Since I'm out of the Ministry I can just focus on some of the simple things.  I can tell you, paperwork for a resturant is definately not as hard as Head of Law Enforcement," he grinned and opened the passenger side door for Claudia.  "It's actually not far from here, so you'll only have to suffer this for a short time."  He said realizing that he had picked up on her unease.  Alex had to be more concious about his Legilemency use.  Especially since he didn't want to pry uninvited into Claudia's mind.  Plus it was just rude.

After shutting the door after her, he crossed around and got into the drivers seat.  Only moments later the car was in motion.  It definately felt awkward, at least at first.  After only seeing her in passing and joining her for lunch maybe a handful of times, this was by all means a very strange occurence.  Either that or Alex was just hung up on the fact of how young Claudia was and that she had actually said yes to his invitation.  Then again, hadn't he always been that way?

***

"Let's go for a walk," Alex said suddenly as he got to his feet from the chair he was in.  He crossed over to Ariella who looked somewhat perplexed, but she smiled and took his out stretched hand.

"I'd ask you what brought this on, but you would only tell me that you don't know," she giggled and kissed his cheek.  Alex felt his cheeks burn up and he avoided eye contact with her.  "I love how spontaneous you can be sometimes."

Just to hear the word, love...it just made Alex burn up that much more.  "Uh, thanks...I guess.  Look, come on Ariella lets just go," Alex said taking her hand and pulling her behind as he began to walk off.  She quickly came in step with him, but said nothing as they left the library at Hogwarts, and after a bit of traveling emerged out into the courtyard.

Autumn leaves covered the ground, it was getting much colder.  Winter would no doubt be somewhere close by as they were entering the second half of November.  He came to a stop as they were at an arch that looked out into Hogwarts grounds, he hadn't known but the sun was setting.

"Is this what you wanted me to see?" Ariella whispered as she slid under his arm and next to him.

"I guess," Alex said looking toward the sunset. 

"Must be that gut instinct I see so often," she joked and playfully poked Alex's side.  He didn't respond but instead she settled in next to him, curled up against him as they watched the sun go down.  "Alex, there is something I need to tell you.  I..."

***

The car came to a stop, and Alex slipped it into park.  They were on the road, maybe three minutes.  Why was his mind so preoccupied with Ariella?  Something his subconcious was trying to tell him perhaps?  But what?  Ariella? After so long...I need to find a way to move on.  You are probably so dissapointed in me.  Angry that I did what I did to myself, and to Ciarra.  Could you ever forgive me?

"Here we are, good ol' Burning Pot.  The best chili cheese fries around.  Okay maybe I only say that cause I'm biased, and I don't see anyone else serving any," he smiled.  He was already unfocused, how could he show Claudia a good time if his own mind couldn't leave him be?  He would just have to relax a bit.  The next moment he as out of the car and crossing over to let Claudia out of the passenger side.

She had never been particularly good at hiding things to begin with, and despite knowing him to be a Legilimens she doubted it would really take much to pick up on the fact that cars made her nervous.  Slipping into the passenger seat, they spent the next few minutes in relative silence.  After a moment she managed to relax, making a sideways glance at him for a moment.

Sometimes a woman didn’t have to have the ability to read minds to pick up on things and she found men sometimes took a woman’s intuition for granted.  For a moment back at her flat as she went about gathering her belongings she had gotten the sense that his mind was elsewhere and she had a nagging feeling that as he drove his mind had once again drifted off somewhere else.  He mentioned something about the chili fries as he put the car in park, and she waited as he slipped from the drivers side coming around to do the gentlemanly thing and open the door for her.

She figured at that point the best thing to do was to watch for other little signs of what might be going on before saying anything.  It was early still and the last thing she wanted was risk ruining the evening by pointing out that she had noticed something since she wasn’t entirely sure what that something way.  A lot of people didn’t appreciate her sometimes blunt questioning when she felt like they were holding something back.

“So, when did you open this place?” she asked getting out of the car.  “I’m sure it’s a bit of a switch, but I would think a little more attention coupled with some changes could always be considered a good thing.  Nothing stays the same, I guess…usually change can be for the best.”

Of course for her personally the jury was still out.  She hoped change would be ultimately for the best and bring a little more of that balance she seemed to need into her life.

"Oh, that's an easy one.  It was 1989, one year after my daughter was born," he smiled as he led them to the front door. Five years before Ariella died.  As they approached the entrance of the Burning Pot, Claudia noting that change can be a good thing.  Maybe that was true, this definately was a change but, had he ever changed?  Was he any different then how he was since the day Ariella died?  It became all about the work...I lost sight of what was important.  Alex shrugged off his thoughts as he opened the door and into the Burning Pot.

The place had definately changed.  There was an actual bar now, for those that like talking to the guy serving up the drinks.  Looks like Charles was the one working tonight.  Nice lad who was going to college and using this job to pay the bills.  Of course Alex paid him well enough to probably live off, but he had goals, something that Alex could easily be respectful about.  Then the ever cheerful, if not a little lightheaded, Elaine was busy bussing tables.  But the place itself was much bigger, nearly double the booths and tables than before.  That was why Alex had hired a couple new girls to help balance the work schedule, so he wasn't overworking his usual waitress girls.  The other girl working tonight was Caroline.  She was a nice girl too, but she had a short fuse, but something in his gut had said she would be a good person to hire.  So despite that he brought her on.

Another renovation was there was now pool tables on the far side, along with a jukebox.  He tried to make the place a little more comfy in a way.  But the lighting was rather modest, and some of the corner booths were particularly darker than any of the others.  Since this would also be the base of his 'new' buisness, it had to serve a few purposes. 

As soon as Elaine spotted that he was there she came running over.  It looked like she would try to hug him but Alex raised his hand to stop her.

"Right sorry, boss.  Your usual seat?  Oh you on a date?" Elaine asked with a playful grin.

"That's right," Alex said as he started to lead Claudia over to his usual booth, which happened to be the darkest part in the room.  "Bring a couple menu's Elaine.  Make that the new ones.  Forest is in tonight right?"

"Yep the big lug has been trying out some of the new dishes since you ordered him the new food supply for him.  I think you must have made his month, the guy won't shut up about it," Elaine might have sounded annoyed but the truth being she thought Forest was cute.  Oh the joys of resturant drama.

Alex finally turned to Claudia, "Believe it or not she is usually a lot worse than that.  So what do you think?  We've been around for a while, but I figured it was time for an update since we are coming up on the 20th year anniversary of this place opening.  It's been on the back burner for a long while, but I had a good manager looking over the place."

The Burning Pot had been expanded since the last time Claudia had been there, and she took a moment to note the changes as she followed Alex led the way to what was apparently his usual booth.  She didn’t remember there being a bar the last time she had been there, and she considered it a smart business move.  There were more tables and booths then she remembered, and something that brought a slight smirk to her lips, pool tables and a jukebox.

Knowing how to play a game of pool was one of those things most didn’t expect of her, and she had used that and her usual array of tight skirts and pants to her advantage more then once.  Usually the look on her male opponents face would be quite priceless…especially if she pretended to have absolutely no clue what she was doing at first.  She was usually a bad liar, but somehow most were willing to believe based on the package she presented that she wouldn’t able to sink a shot in one of the pockets.

A young woman came towards them, and she quirked an eyebrow quite sure she was going to hug Alex.  He stopped her though and the inquiry was made as to whether or not this was a date.  She gave a little smile at the affirmative answer, before getting settled into a booth in the darkest corner of the room.  It felt more private that way and much more to her liking.

"Believe it or not she is usually a lot worse than that.”

There was actually something somewhat endearing about Elaine, much to Claudia’s surprise.  It was obvious she had been working there for sometime, and her upbeat demeanor was probably one of the things that kept patrons coming back.  She could almost imagine though what she would be like if Alex wasn’t on a date.

“So what do you think?  We've been around for a while, but I figured it was time for an update since we are coming up on the 20th year anniversary of this place opening.  It's been on the back burner for a long while, but I had a good manager looking over the place."

“I like it,” she said.  “The bar looks great…I think it will certainly encourage more of a regular crowd.  The pool tables are a nice touch too.”  She took another look around before she added, “Even with a good manager the staff must be glad to have you back.  It seems like they actually care about the place too…I don’t know of too many restaurants that can say that.”  She'd been to plenty where the staff didn't care, and it tended to show.

She settled in, part of her wondering if whatever was on his mind had passed.  She wasn't entirely certain how this evening was going to play out and who would be showing who a bit of fun exactly.  It occurred to her that it was very possible fun could be something they both needed to find again.

The fact that The Burning Pot had been under the watch of manager reminded her of unanswered questions of why it had been necessary to put plans on the back burner.  Folding her hands on the table and leaning forward a bit she said, "I'm not entirely sure I expect an answer to this, but I can't help being a little curious where you've been the last few months.  We can talk about something else, but I just had to get mentioning it out of the way."

"Yeah, a few of them have been here quite a long time.  Elaine in particular has been here since she was sixteen.  She had some certain circumstances with her parents that led to me hiring her," Alex smiled a bit remembering that situation.  Elaine had actually run away from her parents that had been quite abusive.  Alex found her asleep in a alley with barely anything, her clothes ripped, coat bundeled up around her.  He found her only four days after she had run away, by coincidence.  But Alex took her and gave her a job, and even a place to stay.  A room at his apartment complex, starting with rent smaller than most of his tenants but now Elaine made enough to live comfortably alone, even paying full rent.  But it was all he had done for her that made Elaine have a bit of a softspot for him.

"I'm not entirely sure I expect an answer to this, but I can't help being a little curious where you've been the last few months.  We can talk about something else, but I just had to get mentioning it out of the way."

He gave a slight grin, "Well, you can blame your lovely boss at the state of my...affairs as it would.  Essentially there was a situation developing beyond our borders that couldn't be ignored.  Marcus and I did our best to see how it would best be resolved.  Unfortunately in the end I was deemed the expendable one and so I went to...the location with an attempt to end it quickly.  But just like with everything, nothing happens as it should.  Lets just say things went to hell and I had to go underground for a while.  Eventually I was able to resolve the issue, but yeah.  Wish I could tell you more, but its pretty much classified."

There was a quite a bit more to it.  Those months he was in that city, and he had to go to a lot of lengths to disappear.  He had to change his apperance, his accent...and even go further than that.  To the point he really wasn't interested in thinking about it.

"Enough of that.  Marcus would probably disagree with me telling you that much.  But I'm not exactly his partner , or his worker anymore.  Anyway," he dragged it out for a bit for emphasis.  "What have you been up to Claudia?  I notice that things are quite different around here.  And how Ms. Snark got her way to be a Headmistress is something I'm not sure I even want to know.  But back to my first question."

Well, you can blame your lovely boss at the state of my...affairs as it would.

Claudia's lips formed slight smirk of understanding. There hadn't been a  moment did she doubted Marcus had some part in orchestrating the whole thing, but there were things that were simply none of her business.  That was the way things had worked since she became his aid and it kept the office running smoothly.  If she needed to know something the information would be made available, if not she just continued on with work.  The fact that things hadn't gone according to plan though did concern her, even if it did work out.

"Well, you won't put me off to much with the standard answer of it's classified...by now I'm used to it," she said pushing the worry out of her mind.  Clearly things had been handled and Alex was safely back in London.

She wasn't planning to discuss her date with Alex or anything they discussed with Marcus on Monday morning.  It wasn't generally something she made a practice of as she tended to consider her personal life just that, personal.  Of course earlier that month personal and professional had crossed paths, and been pointed out to the rest of London thanks to the Daily Prophet.

"What have you been up to Claudia?  I notice that things are quite different around here.  And how Ms. Snark got her way to be a Headmistress is something I'm not sure I even want to know.  But back to my first question."

She chuckled slightly.  Things had been a bit hectic around the Ministry...between Snark's abrupt change of careers, trying to find ways to keep her boss' personal life out of the papers, Runespoors, Werewolves....Hectic was the best word she could think of.  But work had always been what she was up to more of less.

"Well, let's see...," she began filtering in her mind through a handful of things she was certain she wouldn't be sharing from months ago to the more recent, "I guess I've been keeping a bit of a lower profile then I used to.  Works been keeping me busy and, well, there was my fantastic display of poor judgment, which you're aware of.  I guess I've been trying to find a bit of balance since then, and it's not really something I'm used to."

“I’ve been going home a bit more then I have in the past,” she added.  “By home, I mean Rome…It’s sort of funny that I still think of that way, I haven’t lived there for more then a few months here and there since before I received me acceptance lettering into Beauxbatons.  I think it’s been good…it reminds me that my life hasn’t always revolved around some job.”

She gave a little shrug, looking down at her hands which were still folded on the table.  She had never been about balance, instead she had trudged along full speed ahead for nearly a decade.  She worked hard, and most knew she had a reputation for playing hard as well.  Quiet evenings and relaxing hadn't been her thing in a very long time, and the more she thought over that fact the more it seemed to bother her in some way.

Looking up again she continued, "You know how it is in the Ministry, you never truly escape it.  Well...unless of course you're Analiza Snark and I doubt she's sharing that secret with anyone."

"Rome huh?" Alex chuckled more to himself.  As it were Rome had been one of the many places he had been during his escapade away from London.  "That's good to hear.  Rome is quite a nice place, though there are some parts just like any other city that should not be traveled."  While he couldn't divulge any real information he could at the very least give her a peak to what he had been doing. 

"As for the Ministry, I don't think any of us ever could escape.  I may not work there, but Marcus is still my best friend.  So its not like I'll never have anything to do with it.  I'm sure I'll be brought on whenever Marcus needs me," Alex said sighing slightly.  Elaine returned only a moment later and placed the brand new menu's in front of the both of them.

"Actually going to try something new, boss?" she joked.

"Elaine, are you saying I never eat anything but the chili cheese fries?" Alex feigned a gasp and laughed a little.   "A few minutes if you would."

"Whatever you say, boss man." Elaine left over to one of her other tables.

"I suppose I really am that predictable.  But I think I might try our new sirlion steak," Alex thought outloud as he looked over the menu.  "The menu is almost twice as big as it used to be.  I went over it with the cook in order to try and get as much variety as we could.  And basically anything that felt to be a good comfort food.  Actually I considered even attempting to do some sort of family theme here, but in the end I think this place might be more appealing to university types."

Alex looked over the menu, even though he knew everything that was on it, he was damn proud of it.  Ariella would have loved to have seen the Burning Pot grow to what it was.  It had been a guilty pleasure when he had opened it up.  Essentially there wasn't a resturant around that served what he want.  So he opened it up using his profits from the Apartment Complex buisness he owned.    Now it was one of the longest running tavern's in all of London.  That certainly hadn't been the plan.

Ariella...  Once again his mind wandered.

***

"So, bigshot.  What are you going to call it?" Ariella stood holding a baby Ciarra in her arms.  Alex stood next to her as they looked at a rundown old building.  Alex had just signed the paperwork, and the renovation would begin in the next couple days.

"That's easy, The Burning Pot," Alex said looking over and giving her a wink.

"You mean after that horrible fake restuarant that I wrote a story on?" Ariella raised an eyebrow at him and he responded with reaching over and kissing her forehead.

"I also distinctly remember that horrible fake restuarant also having the best chili cheese fries in all of Europe.  Even if the rest of the food sucked," Alex grinned.  "It's one of my favorites of what you have written."

"You like everything I do," Ariella sighed not sure if she was flattered or embarrased to have Alex's tavern named after something she wrote in a short story.

"Of course I do, why else would I have married you?" Alex laughed.

***

Yes, of course.  Had he really forgotten where he had gotten the name of the Burning Pot from?  Buried somewhere in his house were all the short stories that Ariella had written.  It was a hobby that Ariella had, though she never did much more with it.  Alex loved reading them, so it had almost become custom that she would write a new one for him every once in a while.  Most often the story would resemble their life.  Perhaps he should dig those up at some point...

"I'm sorry, I can't seem to stay focused tonight," Alex said apologizing to Claudia.  He looked back at the menu, "I think I will go with the steak."

She had never idealized Rome.  It was a beautiful city, but it had its share of dark corners.  It had served her well to live there, giving her a bit of ‘street smarts’ that she tried to exhibit most of the time.   Of course one would have to ignore one specific incident where that had failed her completely.

Elaine returned with the menus and she watched the little exchange.  It seemed she wasn’t the only one who was a bit of a creature of habit.  It was easy to fall into that trap, and finding your way out of it wasn’t always easy.  Of course, when speaking of chili cheese fries that solution was a bit more obvious then when one thought of personal behaviors.

As she looked down to the menu, she thought perhaps he seemed a little distant again.  It wasn’t really something she was used to, but then again neither were invitations to dinner that weren’t completely superficial.  When he spoke again, apologizing, she set the menu down, looking away for a brief moment to try to collect her thoughts.  Thanks to a severe lack of practice she couldn’t help but feel a bit lost with what to do.

“Is the reason classified, or are you open to sharing?” she asked, slowly looking back at him.

She felt completely out of her element.  For some women playing the part of the curious and perhaps slightly concerned party was simple.  They seemed to just be able to string together the perfect words for the situation like it was the most natural thing in the world.  For someone though who had spent so much time trying to be completely independent, it was like being tossed into the water with only a very basic knowledge of how to stay afloat.  She’d give it a try though.

“I don’t mean to pry….But, it hasn’t gone completely unnoticed and I can’t help but wonder a little bit where it is your mind is taking you,” she added.  Once the question was asked, she felt a little less out of place, although she was still unsure if it had come across as the sincere inquiry she had meant it to be.

"I was hunting down someone from the past.  Someone that Marcus and I had spent a great deal of time tracking down.  In the end all we had done was scare him off.  But when we noticed certain patterns happening beyond our borders we acted.  And good thing too.  If we hadn't it would have created a mess here.  One much worse than the current affairs.  That's all I can say on that subject I'm afraid," Alex said wishing for once he could divulge the information and share it with someone.  He had so much classfied info in his head he was at least grateful he could talk to Marcus about it but there was times where he wanted someone not Marcus that he could trust.

Then conversation turned towards him, more specifically the thoughts on his mind.  It made him think about it more.  When was the last time he had actually had a serious conversation about his own life?  He had attempted with Ciarra but still resorted to all buisness with her in order to keep his composure.  In his past it had been about his career, his future and what he could do for the wizarding community.  But back then he had Ariella, his personal life had felt whole, complete, and he had been happy.  More than words could ever truly express.  But what about now?  Was he just living for the sake of living?

Perhaps it was just years of all the sights he had seen.  Some of the unspeakable horrors that Marcus and Alex had seen in the war against the IRA.  Those dark wizards on that battlefield were the worst kind.  No respect of life, only in what they can gain.  The images haunted him almost as much as the fact that his sife's killer had never been caught.  She died during the initial Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup.  It was made to look like she had just died in the cross fire.  But Alex knew better.

No, his wife had been an Unspeakable, one of the best at the time from what he heard.  Ariella had been increasingly cautious in the last month.  From everything he had gathered, it had something to do with whatever she was working on.  Alex knew that there had to be a connection to her work and the reason she was killed.  Despite his investigations nothing had ever turned up.

He looked up at Claudia and gave a smile that looked incredibly forced.  "I won't lie.  I've been thinking of my wife.  The one who died at the begining of the 2nd war with Voldemort.  It's rather pathetic, really."  Alex looked away from her and towards a group of customers that had walked in, Elaine waltzing over to seat them.  "To be completely honest, I don't think I ever dealt with her passing.  I just dug deeper into work.  I took down Dark Wizards with no regard to myself.  I became agressive...and I really, really enjoyed causing them pain.  Like somehow every single one I punished brought me one step closer to avenging Ariella's death."

He gave an amused laugh and looked back at Claudia, "But after all these years, I realize I was only diluding myself from the truth.  As long as I kept working I would never have to face the truth.  Yet, tonight spending time with you, I think I understand something now.  I stopped living, I became a slave to my trade to mask my own life, until the job was all I had.  I mean I'm even a pathetic father.  All I did was hire a nanny for Ciarra, and I just ignored her.  I can't do that anymore."

He sighed, "Claudia, I know I'm dumping a lot on you, but do you know how long its been since I have felt I could tell anyone anything besides Marcus?  Let's just say there is something about you.  Something I failed to notice before.  I may not know you that well but I just feel like I could trust you with any secret I may have.  Odd as that may seem.  So when I saw you when I came into the Ministry my gut feeling was to ask you out, so I did.  So here we are.  I think I'm ready to face that part of myself that I have kept locked away for so long.  But I know I can't do it by myself."