WHO: Danielle Kettleburn & Donovan Rookwood
WHAT: Sad times
WHERE: Their house
WHEN: Uhmm backdated to when he was released!
STATUS: Finishing in comments!
It had occurred to Danielle immediately that her life with Donovan was never going to be the same after his arrest and this trial. It would be stupid to think that they were going back to their already chaotic lives without problem, but Danielle hadn’t expected the sudden betrayal against Donovan. Augustus had stayed quiet along with Donovan so she’d just begun to assume that they’d have to rely on their lawyers but...the pain of the realization that Donovan had basically bartered by his brother for his freedom was intense and greatly upsetting.
She didn’t know how to help him get over that blow other than just pushing through every day and trying to ignore all the negativity. If she confronted people about it, it caused more stress. That’s why she’d been so sharp with him about the journal entry; Danielle didn’t understand the need to bring such negativity toward himself.
Danielle backed into the sitting room where Donovan had been for quite some time, a tray in her hands, “I made tea,” she said, once again trying to go along with as regular of a routine as possible. Push forward, they couldn’t let this ruin their lives.
There was so much more to this case than the public knew – they had no idea who the brothers were as individual people, so now the only thing the name ‘Rookwood’ would ever be associated with would be this trial. They would never see Donovan as a well educated lawyer, or as a person who cared deeply for his family – no matter what – or as a loyal friend. He would just be seen now as a man who was accused of several counts of aiding and abetting, and the man who had no choice but to put his brother away for the rest of his life, unless he too wanted to spend the rest of his days staring at the walls of a cell in Azkaban.
He wasn’t guilty of anything. It was one thing, selling his brother out just so his own slate could be cleared, but he hadn’t done anything illegal. Maybe it was
immoral, because of all the things he knew that he did nothing about, but he had been told everything as his brother’s
lawyer - not as a brother, not as anything but his
council. Really, what he was guilty of was doing
nothing - but what other choice did he have? What could
he have done, against an entire army – against the Dark Lord himself?
He was powerless then, and he felt even
more powerless now. Taking the stand against his brother, it put a spotlight on him as someone who knew things about the Death Eaters, which could
not have made any who were still lingering in their world very happy. It also pretty much severed whatever ties he still had to his family – he and his mother were already on non-speaking terms when all of this went down, and he knew how his father felt about anyone who wasn’t pureblooded. Think of how thrilled he must have been, to have his youngest son get in front of a court room and stand up for all the people he had turned his nose up at his entire life.
Donovan had been sitting on the couch, hunched forward with his head in his hands, eyes closed as he just tried to concentrate on his breathing, instead of thinking non stop about what he might be asked when he was finally on the stand. The sound of movement coming from the kitchen disturbed this process, eventually lifting his head to turn blue eyes, tired and worn, over to the blonde who had just backed into the room. He felt like he could hear buzzing in the air, because of how quiet it was when no one was talking, or glasses weren’t clinking against the tray as she placed it down in front of him.
He knew this was hard on her, even if this didn’t all affect her directly, which is why he made the effort to extend out his hand, slipping it beneath hers to pull her down to sit beside him.
“Thank you.”
Danielle felt some pleasure in Donovan’s gentle touch and a small smile crossed her face at the small gesture of appreciation. It was hard for her to hide her emotions, and she didn’t think she should have to, with Donovan. She would try to, to keep him as stress free as possible, but it was difficult to maintain when her mind was always bursting with thoughts and ideas. But he still wanted her to be around and be close, so she was doing the right thing, it seemed.
She moved closer to Donovan, her free hand going across his back to pull him to her. Danielle didn’t the quiet all that much, but she was finding that she was contradicting herself a lot lately. Her supervisor nearly fired her after it was found out that she’d been the healer in Donovan’s cell, but she’d escaped suspension and just ended up with really, really shitty all-night shifts. Her supervisor had blamed her actions on the trauma of the night, that Danielle hadn’t been in the right mind when Donovan had been arrested and taken away.
Maybe she hadn’t been, maybe she still wasn’t. She didn’t know what was the right mind to be in anymore, all she knew was that she was with Donovan and she was happy to be with Donovan and
wanted to be with Donovan.
This thought made her smile again, and she pushed forward to kiss him; it was her favorite form of distraction, and she hoped Donovan could lose his thoughts in the kiss.
He willingly let her pull him closer to her, his own hand slipping away from hers to snake around her waist. He found that after being away from her for a month, he couldn’t be
close enough to her – they had already spent 5 years of their lives apart, and now that he had gotten her back, the thought of losing her again was terrifying. He knew that if he had never agreed to take the stand, he would have been sent away, and he wouldn’t ever be able to see her again. They had come too far; they had experienced too much heart ache for either of them to be able to come back from that. Despite his better judgment, he had been thinking too long and too hard about what her future would have been like, had he been imprisoned for the rest of his life, like his brother was about to be.
He would have wanted her to be happy, but the thought of someone else providing her that happiness was unbearable. It kept him up some nights, when he was laying there in his cell, always considering the worst case scenarios while also trying to shed some light on the grim situation at hand. It was impossible though, to put a ‘positive spin’ on familial betrayal – the second one within a matter of months, no less.
He was bitter, he was angry, he was
pissed off - but more importantly, he was hurt by it all. He had put everything on the line for Augustus, just to be thrown to the wolves when it was most convenient for his older sibling – to think, that Augustus would rather pull his own brother down with him instead of defending his innocence, it was just-…
It
hurt.
His thoughts had wandered again, hardly even noticing the gentle upturn of her lips before she was nearing him, pressing them against his in the form of a chaste kiss. His eyes closed, cherishing the softness of those plush tiers as he returned the affectionate gesture, his other hand coming up to rest against the side of her head, golden strands folding beneath his palm as he pulled back, just enough to rest his forehead against hers and breathe her in, his eyes still closed, only opening them again after he swallowed roughly, pulling back so he wasn’t completely cross-eyed when he tried to focus on the oceanic specks of colors that made up her eyes.
“...do you think I’m doing the right thing?”
It was a strange question to ask, all things considering, but he had to know that he wasn’t just doing this to save his own ass – that this was the
only option he had. Rhys has told him there wasn’t any other way, and he believed him – he knew how the law worked, and he knew that Rhys wanted to win this case and wouldn’t lead him astray, but he needed to hear it from
her. She knew how he felt about family, but she also knew how cracked and chipped that foundation had become over the last few months. Still…this would pretty much mean he was going to be temporarily, if not permanently exiled from the rest of his pureblood family.
She only hesitated because Danielle had been very sure that the kiss would lead to a snog that lead into the bathroom. Her mind had been set on this perfectly executed plan to keep Donovan’s mind off things, but apparently she had underestimated the power of her kiss. Danielle blinked, focusing on Donovan before she gave a slight nod,
“Of course you are. It was a hard decision to make, but it’s most definitely the right one.”
Danielle let out a breath. She normally didn’t feel guilty about telling the truth, even when it was a rough truth, but she knew Donovan would never truly see his decision as the right one. The world was just a messed up place, and while he had managed to get past all of the righteous beliefs his family had pressed upon him, his brother had not. Augustus had actually gone to the absolute extreme when it came to being a purist pureblood, there was
no defending that.
Her hands went up and down his arms in a comforting manner, “All you ever did was try to protect your brother. He was the one that was out killing innocent people for no real reason at all. You’ve done so many people---so much good.” Danielle looked down, formulating more reasons for Donovan not to hate himself, “If it weren’t for you, Rafe would have been attacked more than he was,
Jonas would have, I would have been...” Her voice caught for a second, thinking back to the hospital last summer, “...keeping his secrets kept your friends alive, and it kept
him out of jail for this long, so---”
It was definitely hard to even slightly defend Augustus Rookwood, Danielle had never felt comfortable around the man, but she had to, for Donovan, “He was desperate to stay out of Azkaban, he’s lost everything, Donovan, as much as it hurts to think about...you’ve got things to live for, your brother doesn’t.”
She hoped she hadn’t been too blunt. Danielle really was trying to get better, but sometimes it was necessary. Danielle twisted her lips in concern, holding her breath.
