Who: Emmeline Vance and Frank Longbottom (brief appearance by Alice)
What: Decisions
Where: Longbottom's
When: Today!



"Emmeline--" Alice Longbottom fretted, taking a step forward but stepping back, clasping her hands together at her mouth. Her eyes flickered quickly as she followed the quick movements of the other girl, and Alice's lips pressed together tightly. She should never have opened her big mouth, "I'm sorry, but it was for the best--"

"I really---I really don't care," Emmeline responded, jamming her belongings into the bag she was packing. She felt frantic in her packing, as if she couldn't get away fast enough, "I don't care, Alice, I'm just going to---how could you?" She turned quickly to the other woman, tears piercing her eyes. Emmeline felt just as hormonal as Alice, with how quickly every single thing was sending her to tears, but---but!

"You threw out my journal!"

"We all did," Alice let out with a great breath, head shooting back and forth between Emmeline and the door, "Who knows what else Voldemort or the death eaters could look up, Emmeline! It's for the greater good of the Order!"

"Fuck the bloody Order!" Emmeline shouted, dropping her bag to raise her hands. She surprised herself and looked a bit lost for a moment, but continued on, "Don't you---that's all I had Alice, that's all I had of him and now it's---you just destroyed it!"

"It's---that's---" Alice stuttered, and she snapped her mouth shut when the door pushed open revealing her husband. Normally, Alice would be more than willing to take on the role of friend, maybe even sister to Emmeline, but having been completely hysterical for nearly two weeks straight, "You handle her!" she snapped at her husband, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

Frank frowned, his arms hanging at his sides and his body hunched against the wall in a way that showed just how tired he was. The past two weeks had been... there weren't enough words in the English language to describe them. Hellish, ridiculous, straining... unbearable. Sleepless, definitely sleepless. Not that he hadn't been expecting all of that, or even worser times, but that didn't take away from how taxing everything had been. And that was just Emmeline. Derek barely spoke to them, and if Frank wasn't dealing with Emmeline, then Alice was with Derek, or the other way around, and---

He thought he would have known how to take care of this, take care of Emmeline, and Derek for that matter, properly because he and Alice had been there, he knew how they felt and what to say (as unwillingly they wanted to hear it) to make things better. He knew it had only been over two weeks, and that things like this took a very long time to get over, if at all, so... he should feel confidant. They were going to get over this, it was going to get better.

He was thinking too much, Alice was right. Just let them do this their own way, at their own pace, and just be there to guide. Though that hardly felt like enough.

"What's going on Emmeline?" Frank asked in a calm tone, looking down at the ground for a second before locking his eyes on her. He was sure to keep his tone relaxed, untroubled--- quiet, even. In the beginning, it had been hard to restrain himself from screaming back at her during many of their... disagreements, but now it was much easier to sustain this controlled way of speak. Besides, Frank honestly couldn't get that angry with her. He had been where she was now two years ago, probably worse, so the least he could do was return the favor; without Emmeline, Frank was fairly certain he would still be the mess he was back then today.

It was much, much easier to shriek about nearly insignificant things at Alice. Emmeline didn't care if the other woman thought she was insane (she did, but it wasn't---a terribly important concern of hers). She was on such a good bloody roll before Frank had come into the room, and now Emmeline felt herself slam into a mental brick wall. She couldn't cry about the lost conversations to Frank, not when she knew that all her cousin cared about was the fact that she was alive. Emmeline knew that she too should find that her life was more valuable than any journal could ever be, but--she couldn't stop herself from getting upset over the loss.

Maybe it was simply easier to be a whining, hysterical girl to Alice, than Frank, because quite suddenly Emmeline felt all of the rage spirit out of her. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, feeling the familiar fatigue of the past few weeks fall upon her again. Emmeline knew this routine by heart; she'd feel something blaze up inside her chest, just to die out quickly as if it didn't have a thing to keep it lit. She looked over at Frank, fronwing, and then back down at her bag. Her hand was still gripped around a blouse, and she started to pull it back, but--maybe there was still a slight flickering in her chest.

"I want---I'm going home," she said shakily, not at all in the stern tone she'd hoped for. Emmeline couldn't look Frank in the eye as she said this, another factor that played into her theory that this was not going to actually happen. She did want this, to go back to her flat, to her own life, but she was going to have to convince herself of how badly within the next five minutes if she actually wanted leave.

Take a deep breath of air, just one deep breath. Slowly, Frank took in the most amount of air his lungs possibly could, and then just as slowly breathed all of it out. Now wasn't a good time for her to leave, especially now, Emmeline was still very--- fragile, at this stage. She couldn't be left to her own devices, by herself for most of the day, with her mind ample to wander and... reel. So Frank frowned, knowing that this was not going to go over well. Not be pretty, end horribly, the world was going to explode, and neither of them were going to like this.

"I don't think that's a very good idea," Frank started slowly, his voice as placid as ever. He continued to watch her intently, waiting for any moment to catch her eye. She wasn't looking directly at him, they both knew each other's tricks by now, but he would still wait. He would wait forever if he had too. Because right now, while Emmeline might think this was a good thing for her, Frank knew it wasn't; he knew better--- or at least he believed he did. Now wasn't the time for her to be alone, it had only been two weeks: she needed to be around people.

"Do you not feel welcomed here anymore?" he asked softly, not exactly feeling the shame that should be running through him after that statement. Frank would do whatever it took to keep Emmeline safe, even if it meant making her feel guilty for the next few minutes. She couldn't leave, not yet. It wasn't--- she shouldn't go back to a place where he had been. Not yet. It would be too much, too many things for her to take in and deal with, she wasn't ready.

Her jaw clenched as she looked up, not at Frank just---up. It took a lot not to turn and glare at him, but Emmeline knew if she wanted to get out of here then--she had to avoid anything that might hurt her cause.

"Do not put words in my mouth," she hushed quickly. Alice and Frank had been nothing but good and kind and selfless, how could he even think that--no, see. Emmeline knew, she knew what Frank was trying to do. Trying to make her feel bad for wanting to leave, ha! Nope, not--not this time, she was not going to---not that she'd ever put herself into a situation like this with Frank before, but she was going to make her own decisions and her own mistakes and---

---all that ever did was put her in situations like this. Emmeline had gone straight back to school after Greenland, after Fenrir, she'd never had a chance to sit and think about what had happened. This was the first time that she wasn't forced to get back to her regular life and forget that it ever happened. Now--now she could think about everything during every waking second. When she wasn't thinking about Caradoc, she was thinking about Fenrir, when she wasn't thinking about him she was thinking of Evan Rosier and his spells. It was an endless cycle of pain and literal torture that she couldn't escape because she was forced to stay in one place. She didn't want to grow sick of the Longbottom Estate, not with the baby coming so soon, but Emmeline was finding herself growing angry at the art, the landscape, the bloody smell.

"I can't---I don't..." she couldn't think of what to say, and her lips pressed hard together. "I want to get back," to what exactly, she couldn't find the the right words to say, "Just--back, I want to get back."

"Get back to what?" he asked simply, his hands going to his pockets now. It was getting increasingly harder not to frown more and more by the second. She wasn't looking at him, actually it seemed like she was refusing to look at him. Which was a good or bad thing, Frank wasn't necessarily sure he wanted to decide. But the point was that--- was that what she really wanted? To just... be by herself, and not have do deal with anyone? Or was she somehow trying to... move on? The latter seemed highly unlikely, there hadn't been enough time for that to dawn on her yet, so. But should he stop her? Two years ago, if anyone had tried to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do, he would have done it anyway. Rather savagely, actually. Was now any different?

Of--- course it was.

Frank sighed again, deciding that perhaps he should be more... lenient, try a different approach. While he wished he could, he couldn't force Emmeline to do anything, no matter how important it would be to her recovery. She had to do this on her own, which Frank had successfully been able to push to the back of his mind until now. Looking away from his cousin for a second, Frank watched the ground, focusing especially on the finer details of the wooden floor. Perhaps listening to her answer would help ease his severe need to overprotect her. Perhaps he wasn't giving her enough credit; she was grown up now, neither of them were children anymore by any means. He did not doubt her capability of... any of this, no, that wasn't it. Frank just--- it just honestly pained him to see her like this, in any form of torment, suffering, throes, because Emmeline didn't deserve it. She was such a better person than this, incredibly beyond this, and for her to be dealt such a shitty hand simply wasn't fair.

"You know I only want what's best for you, right?" His tone was completely different, wholly pure and innocent. Frank just--- he hadn't said that to her before, in this context. Of course Emmeline knew it, but in light of the current situation, it meant much more. He just... had to tell her, out loud.

There was something wrong with each and every one of them. Caradoc, her, Frank---why was it so hard to express emotions and feelings? Normal human beings were able to say that they loved each other, that they cared, but when she or any of her friends, any of the people she honestly fucking cared about admitted such things, it was as if the world froze, the universe jolted violently and---she didn't know what to do. She knew that Frank cared about her, she knew that he would never do anything he thought would hurt her, but still hearing it opened a flood of questions and thoughts and concerns and devastating truths.

Maybe she was being selfish, wanting to leave so soon. Maybe she wasn't taking into consideration Frank's feelings or how he would be when she was gone. Frank was the only family she had, Archie was there, but he was there out of duty, not because---Frank didn't need to be her family by anything other than name, he was all she had and even then, once the baby came---So selfish, she was so bloody selfish, but who could honestly blame her? Everyone had their own lives and issues to deal with, and all Emmeline managed to do was lose the people who were going to help her through these hardships.

She moved quickly toward him, head still ducked down but hands out in a pleading manner. Emmeline shut her eyes as Frank's shoes came into view, and finally she looked up at him, hoping to not fall apart before she managed to say what she wanted and needed to say.

"I know, I'm---I'm sorry, I know you---but---" Emmeline put her hand to her chest, a physical reminder to keep breathing and steady, "I'm not going to--get back to---to trying to be--happy here, I need--I was honestly happy and not--not just because of him--Caradoc, but with--with everything and I was doing it by--myself, and I had never thought I could and---" Emmeline pressed her fingertips to her eyes, forcing herself to not cry and finish, "I need to get back to that, I love you Frank but---I can't do it here."

Emmeline's hands dropped to her side, and she kept her chin up and somewhat steady.

What was he suppose to say to that? No? As much as he wanted to, Frank knew it would be overstepping many boundaries, not to mention plain wrong, if he tried to stop her from doing whatever she wanted to do. If he tried to stop her from getting back to her old self, regardless of whether or not he felt going about it this way or not would help. He wasn't her father, he wasn't even her brother, just barely related enough through blood. So, perhaps, he should--- let her go.

He sighed, shifting off the side of the wall to stand balanced on both his feet. Frank silently watched Emmeline closely for a long time, as if doing so would help reaffirm everything going through his head. Or let help her words sink in even more. Eventually, he moved by running his hand through his hair in a tired manner.

"You have to promise to talk to either me or Alice every day," Frank started quietly, taking his stare off her. "And you have to interact with other people." Alright, a complete break wasn't even something he could muster at that point. Baby steps were necessary, for the both of them. Yes, he dared to be selfish at a time like this. "And you have to promise that you will talk to someone--- I don't care who it is--- if you need to for anything."

Frank honestly couldn't believe what he was saying. He was actually condoning Emmeline leaving? He was accepting it? With not so much as a raised voice in the slightest? With rules, of course, but that wasn't the main point. The point was that he seemed to actually be peeling back his cast-iron clench from her. Because--- it was all about him. Fuck, bigger picture here, much?

His hands moved from his chest to Emmeline's shoulders, and he finally brought back his gaze to hers with a very small smile. "I always wanted an excuse to build another house on the property..."