Who: Theo and Holly Nott
Where: Nott Abode
What: Theo is not having a good day.
When: Nowish?
Theo couldn’t help but laugh at irony of his current situation, painful as it was with what was bound to be broken ribs, but he still laughed. He paused in the dark alleyway, holding the wall for support. He had made it through the
war. Navigated the years where his friends were maimed, arrested and killed, all relatively unscathed. It was so bad his brother had run off to
France and Theo still stood strong. None the wiser. And now years later, with the war all but forgotten by most, he found himself the closest to not returning home all over a stupid deal. Something that he would have not even considered worth his time, but he had an itch to get out and
do something. It was so simple Holly would never even know.
Another humorless laugh escaped his lips as he pushed himself straight again and started walking. He knew there was a certain amount of blood loss that made you delirious. Where hours slipped into days and one couldn’t hold onto their thoughts anymore. There was a point where Theo knew that number, the amount that got a person to this point. Either way, he was certain the gash in his leg that was constantly seeping blood, was keeping him rather near that delirious state. The only number could think of now was the number of meals he has missed since he left on what suppose to be a quick after work errand (four) and the number of nights he had not returned home (halfway through his second). Holly was going to murder him.
He paused on the threshold of his home.
With his watch broken, Theo had no idea what time it was, but he was sure it was late. From where he stood, he couldn’t see any lights on. Theodore was surely asleep. Holly was--- leaning against the door, he couldn’t even finish his thought. Before,
before when he returned home bloodied (usually not his own) and bruised, there was no one there to care.
Before there was no one to miss him if he didn’t return home. Or at least no one he cared about if they did.
This was a new feeling, hesitating to enter his own home. Not knowing what to expect. The number of times he had used it against others.
’Think of your wife. Think of your kids. Wouldn’t it just be easier to do as I say? What a horror this new perspective was turning out to be. After a breath, and a brief struggle with the door (weren’t broken bones a bitch) Theo finally made his way inside as silently as he could manage.
He just needed to get to the shower. If he could manage a shower and attempt to make himself look a bit less like a warmed over corpse, then perhaps he could manage to spin something. He just couldn’t let Holly see him like this, and then the rest, the rest he could manage. There was a small noise behind him that made him freeze in place. Had he not, had he not been who he was, he wouldn’t have even heard the quiet creak in the floorboard.
He dared not move. He dared not say a word. Either would give him away, yet freezing and refusing to turn to face his wife didn’t seem to be an option either. Theo had nothing to say. There was no words to excuse not coming home for two nights. At least not any words he was willing to say.
She had missed
practice for this man.
Holly had gone to bed that first night without much concern. Theo had made mention of some late night work, and she was exhausted from some ridiculous new drills McCormack was trying out. Her captain was trying to iron out every crease in their team before the season started, and Holly couldn’t say she hated it. They were the best in the league, and she wanted to stay that way. It wasn’t until Theodore crawled into bed early that morning that she realized Theo hadn’t come home. The
sun was rising and her husband was not in her bed. It was too early for him to have been off to work, and he would never have left without letting her know--
Still, she had not panicked. She had owled McCormack about staying home that day because their son was sick, but she did not panic. Holly made her way to Theo’s offices, but with no luck. The strain of anxiety began to grow then, because if Theo wasn’t slaving away at the office on some busy diplomat’s documents, where could he be? Holly made her way with Theodore to St. Mungo’s, but no one had been checked in. It didn’t make sense, a grown man didn’t just
disappear!
She had even owled his
brother a few hours ago, and the moment she sent that message off, she alerted the hitwizards of Theo Nott’s disappearance. Apparently, he was not technically a ‘missing-person’ until forty-eight hours had passed, but what was she supposed to do until then? Sit and wait? Sit and
wait? For--for what? For her husband’s body to be found floating in the river? For--for---
Holly jumped from her seat in Theodore’s room at the sound of the front door opening. Her senses had been completely on edge, whether it was from her sheer panic or her lack of sleep. She hurried through the house, nearly
ran down the stairs because who else could it be? Who else could be coming through the door at all hours of the night?
“Where have you
been?” Holly shrieked, completely forgetting that there was a child asleep upstairs. All the lights in the room burst on and she crossed quickly over to Theo, grabbing his shoulder to whirl him around, “
Where have----
Theo!”
Theo winced at the sudden flooding of light, then again at the hand on his shoulder causing a searing pain to shoot down his arm. That had been a injury that he was specifically unaware of until that moment. He hid for a moment in his pain, eyes squeezed shut as he focused on standing. And breathing. Breathing seem rather difficult, considering its importance, at the moment.
“Sorry,” he was all he could manage as he opened his eyes to look at his wife. Theo did not need to see his wife to recognize the anger in her voice when she demanded where he had been. That was the question of the day, wasn’t it. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t focus on anything other than pain he felt from just standing, but his wife deserved an answer.
He desperately wanted to sit, and he stared at the couch almost longingly. If he sat there though, he would get blood all over the upholstery, and blood was such a tricky stain to remove. He was certain the floor would be ruined soon, which was unfortunate. The hardwood floors were something Holly had liked most when they looked at this place. Such pointless things for his mind to fixate on really, when his efforts should be on finding a something to explain his absence. Or more importantly, his current state, but every time he looked at his wife he got distracted by the fact that
he had caused the look to be on her face.
And it was only going to get worse. He was stupid to think he could carry on as if nothing had changed. Or was he stupid to think he could manage having a wife,
a family, pretending as if he were never a death eater before? There was something distinctly not smart about this situation. “Sorry I didn’t come home,” he started again, his gaze falling to the floor. He really ought to move, blood was starting to pool. Or maybe it was better not to move. Keep the mess contained to the foyer. “There was--there had been a complication.”
She may as well have been shot with a body-binding spell. Holly was frozen in place, the shock of seeing her husband in such a terrible state hurting her to the core. What, what,
what had happened? A
complication? With
what? Who had done this to him? Why wasn’t he more
upset?
Her gaze hardened and Holly snapped out of her stunned state. Her wand was out and she summoned a first-aid kit that was stored in the bathroom nearby. With a child and a career like hers, you always needed to keep some pain-relieving potions and healing salve nearby. She tried to gingerly push Theo toward the couch, but it was more like a shove as she pressured him to sit. Holly dropped to her knees in front of her husband as the healing products floated about her head.
“Take this,” she snapped, her hands shaking as she handed him a small vial of potion that should ebb away some of the pain. Holly
wanted to give him the one that could knock a rhino on its arse to numb all the pain, but there was no way she could mend all these wounds; Theo had to stay awake until the healers could get here. “---and this one, that’s supposed to stop the bleeding, I think, I have to floo Mungo’s--”
Her wand swished quickly and cut away his shirt. Holly let out a pained sound as she saw the extent of Theo’s injuries. Her panic kept her tears at bay and she twisted her lips to help force herself to maintain composure. She needed to help him, that was the most important thing right now.
“Stay here, just--stay, relax, don’t fall asleep---just relax.”
Instinct had Theo grabbing Holly’s wrist before she could go too far. He had taken all of her potions without question, which was a feat. And at the current point he was certain he was willing to tell her whatever she wanted to know, but she was going to floo
Mungo’s. How was he supposed to explain his current situation without first implicating himself. He would lose his
job. He would lose--- “Wait,” he looked desperately at her. Currently he did not possess the strength to stop her if she really desired to ignore him. So really all he had on his side was hope that she would understand.
“Don’t floo Mungo’s.” He asked forcing his eyes open to look at his wife. He couldn’t think of who they use to call on when hurt during the war. He never needed them. He survived just fine without the healers and the other idiots who were stupid enough to get hurt. Well he never dealt with them, now did he? The potion Holly gave him was starting to dull the pain and it was giving Theo the sense of hope he needed to think that he could get through this without seeing a healer at all. “It’s not that bad. It just looks worse than it is.”
It was a weak attempt. Even Theo recognized that as he said the words. Looking to Holly, he sighed. She was not Cordelia. She was not dumb. She would not take his word at face value. It was what he loved most about her, but at this moment it was his downfall. He was stupid to take the job, it was reckless and foolhardy. Especially after Valentine’s day, where he found himself very close to spilling truths he’d rather kept in the past. “I can’t--” He stopped just as quickly as he started swallowing thickly. He could not outright lie to Holly. The mere idea of it left an awful metallic taste in his mouth.
He was bleeding on the couch, and he knew, he
knew that soon Holly was going to demand answers and he would give them to her. Where that went after, well, he wasn’t too keen on thinking about that, but even still, he’d rather be bleeding on this couch than anywhere else. “Holly, please, they will ask questions I can’t answer. Not to them. I will… I’d lose everything. I won’t risk losing you and Theodore, it’s not that bad.”
When he grabbed her, it was like Holly was finally anchored to the ground. The last five minutes had her mind scattered about in all different directions, but Theo’s hold kept her cemented to her spot. Holly listened to him with bated breath, though it was a stretch to say she was even breathing at all. He didn’t want her to call Mungo’s? He was literally losing all of his blood, he was as pale as a ghost, his breaths were
haggard and he didn’t---
Holly blinked down at him as she registered his words. Questions that couldn’t be answered? Losing everything? What was Theo
doing? What was he doing to himself? To
them? How could he have gotten involved with something that was so---he was a
ministry man, he was---he---Holly was hit hard with the reminder that she really didn’t know much about Theo before they’d met. It had been why she’d allowed herself to grow close and comfortable with him; he didn’t ask questions and neither did she. It had worked, he got to see her for who she was without judgments, but as afraid of her past as she was, did he have---it---
A long breath escaped her. Holly pulled her hand out of his, her expression neutral. She snatched another floating potion out of the air and handed it to him. “Drink this.”
It was the rhino knock-out vial. If he would rather suffer than go to Mungo’s, if his life would be destroyed rather than saved if he went to the hospital, then her limited knowledge on healing spells would suffice. If she could stop the bleeding, that was what was important right now. Holly began to unravel the roll of bandages in silence, it was important that she did this right to save her husband’s life---the thought made her catch her breath and she bit back the tears that were threatening to fall.
“Take your shirt off and drink that,” she ordered shakily, not able to look him in the eye. “Hurry up, I have to wrap you up.”
She couldn’t let his words distract her, there were more important things at hand right now.
Theo sank back into the couch as Holly pulled out his grip. He had just-- He had no idea how she was going to react to him asking. He blinked up as his wife as she thrusted another potion at him. Studying it, Theo debated actually taking it, unsure what it would actually do. If Holly would actually listen to his request if he were to pass out.
He found that he didn’t need to think on it as long as he thought he would. Shifting tenderly, he managed to get his shirt off and took the vial from Holly. He hadn’t thought there was anyone he truly trusted his life with, but if anything came out of this it was the cemented fact that he trusted his wife. He could tell moments after drinking the potion that it wouldn’t be long before he would be out.
He used what energy he had left to sit up and reach out to Holly. She needed to know-- This had not been how he intended things to be. She did not deserve to clean up his mess. “Holly, I didn’t--- this isn’t--” blinking rapidly, he tried his best to string words together. He needed to stay awake, but he couldn’t even managed to sit up any longer. Or even keep his eyes open. “I am sorry. This is-- This--” It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
