2031~One Weekish after the Zombie-Pie incident

Nicolas sat comfortably in an armchair in the Casillas Manor reading the Newspaper.

Alright, he was reading the comic section. Was it his fault that everything else in the bloody thing was bloody depressing?

It was all so...painful. All the stress of work was hitting Ana, although she knew it was really the same level as every other day, simply amplified in her mind by nagging thoughts that refused to vanish into oblivion. Complaints, griping and preaching about just turning Nick down without even the slightest attempt.

Logic should have been her salvation.

Working with numbers had been an escape from the greyness of life- the grey areas of morality and emotion. No longer. Like a peninsula abruptly broken from the mainland with a freak wave, she was still. Going nowhere.

Even numbers were twisting around her head, refusing to comply with basic commands as her mind wandered, poking her repeatedly with nagging doubts. Useless. Finally, she'd given up, grabbed a book that required very little conscious thought to follow the plot and escaped from her prison. The office now far behind her, she regretted entering the room instantly, but resolved not to show it.

Despite living in the same house and being "married", she hadn't seen much of Nick over the past week. No prizes for guessing why...

"Afternoon." She said, by way of greeting, forcing herself to not show the anger that resided in her mind, aimed at itself.

Nicolas was so engrossed in his reading that he didn't notice the footsteps approach. Had he done so though, he would have left the room in search of another. The manor was large and spacious - he could have easily found another.

Why? Well it wasn't because he didn't like Ana. In fact, it was quite the opposite. So opposite in fact that Nicolas decided that the safest way to handle their little situation was to avoid and ignore her completely.

Which was exactly what he did. He pretended to continue reading. Though of course, he had stop the momment she walked in the room.

He was ignoring her.

Perhaps it was her frustration with the mess he'd caused in her mind, or simply the fact he was pretending she wasn't there. Hadn't he wanted to make this fake marriage sort of work as an actual marriage?! And now he was just pretending she didn't exist! It was so childish and pathetic and irritating.

Incredibly irksome.

"Hello?!" She didn't bother to hide her irritation.

Nicolas took a moment to debate on what to do. He had picked up on her rather less then good mood. He could continue to pretend to read. He coule leave the room without saying anything. Or he could look up.

He turned the page and continued to read.

Dropping her own book onto a small side table with a dramatic thud, Ana didn't bother to seat herself.

"Nick." Once more she attempted to distract him from his reading. Bloody nerve...

"Will you stop acting like a sulking child for long enough to be civil?" These words were coated in purest fury, poisonous honey oozing from the sentence.

Nicolas wondered what she would do if he continued to ignore her. He didn't put hexing him to oblivion past her.

He looked up at her, looking as neutral as he could. "Can I help you with anyting?"

"If you're not too busy being pathetically childish." She scowled, and on some impulse, snatched the paper from his hands with a vehemence.

Her scowl converting to disdain at the comic section, she continued her odd tirade. "I can't believe you would be so...bloody bipolar! You could at least try to be civil; would that be so difficult for you?!"

At the fact that his beloved newspaper was taken away, Nicolas felt the need to protest. "Hey! I was reading that!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Nicolas lied. He folded his arms. He's full attention was now on Ana. He was angry at her too. What gave her the right to reject him like that? It was so easy for her. Why was it so easy for her? Why could she act like there was nothing different?

"You know exactly what I mean!" Ana's voice rose.

"Why did I know you'd be like this?! You're so...so...irritating!" She finished lamely, trying to make up for it by continuing her rant. "You just start this stupid avoiding idea and all this bloody...just...childish, sulky- This is exactly why; can't you see this exactly why it would never work?!"

If it was a fight she wanted, well then fight she would get.

Nicolas shut the door behind them with his wand. He didn't want any one of the kids to walk by and see them.

"How do you know it wouldn't work? You didn't even give it a chance!" Nicolas belowed back. "I'd like to know why, by the way. Why not?"

"For exactly this reason!" Ana shouted back, fury rising still further.

"Don't you realise how this entire...thing proves it would never work! Why damage everyone we've been working to keep safe?!"

"Why would it damage anything?" Nicolas said stubbornly. By this time he was standing as well.

"If anything, it would strengthen us. Ana, I refuse to accept that is the only reason why you don't want to do this. If you don't like me in that way, just tell me I can handle that. Just don't hide behind the kids!"

Nicolas sighed and took a calming breath.

"We've already sacrificed so much for them."

Hiding?! Ana's indignation grew to ludicrous proportions. "I'm not hiding behind anyone!"

Why did he refuse to even think about...about...

A root of her refusal swam into her mind for a moment, a flicker of fear. Emotional attachment cost so much. It might make their marriage stronger, but it would make her so much weaker...so much more vulnerable.

"It's not that! It's not anything to do with that! Why don't you understand?" Her voice dropped back to a more hushed tone for the last sentence, almost rhetorical but clearly exasperated. "

It was true, they had sacrificed so much. "So why jeopardise all of that now?! It might- It could make it all..." The deaths, her mind supplied, would be utterly wasted. If it all fell through, that was. The façade would fall, and soon after it, the children would be in danger once again.

"Understand what? Make it all what?" Nicolas said with a touch of mocking. "What Ana, what?"

He was tried, upset and frustrated. Why couldn't she understand? Why was she holding back?

Ana desperately scraped around her mind for some excuse. Any excuse. Anything that wouldn't make her seem feeble. Fear of loss was so pathetic; she despised it.

"Well, you might have forgotten the past by now, but some of us aren't so bloody fortunate!" She spat, although she was probably as at peace with Aiden's memory as she was ever going to get.

"Some of us take a while to deal with our love interests being murdered!" It wasn't as though there were many to choose from...She was perfectly sure that Nick knew she was referring to Aiden.

Nicolas' anger seemed to evaporate and turn into shame and guilt.

"I..." He was speechless. So that was why. Oh he felt stupid.

The last thing he wanted was to push her into something. It was too soon. He was rushing. Damn...

He felt so guilty now. He shouldn't be having these feelings for Ana when...

"I'm sorry." He stood back. "I was childish and stupid. And I won't do this again." He walked out.

Not even remotely satisfied, although feeling that she should be, Ana's anger faded away, seeming to drip through the soles of her shoes and dissipate into the floor itself.

She waited for a few moments, before picking up her book and leaving the room, by the same door, but in the opposite direction.

It was for the best. Everyone would be better off. This was the way it had to be. She repeated to herself within the confines of her mind, wandering down the hall with a distracted expression.

Nicolas headed... well he had no heading. He just followed his feet. And they brought him to the stables.

"Hey Persephone," He said petting the winged creature.

Persephone sensed her master's sadness and leaned into him.

"You love me don't you?" He said brushing her mane.

________

Meanwhile, Will was walking along the Halls when he met Ana. "Hello." He said cheerfully, but stopped when he caught her expression.

Ana's surprise was clear on her face for a moment as she jumped slightly at the sound of a voice that wasn't her internal monologue, lost as she had been in her thoughts.

"Hello Will." She smiled, a genuine smile, but with a hint of lingering sadness.

"Is there something wrong?" Will asked frowning slightly.

Ana shook her head slightly, as though to clear it.

"Nothing. Nothing really."

Will gave her a look that said he didn't believe her.

Ana chuckled. It seemed pointless lying to Will, but she needn't discuss anything in depth.

"Nick and I had a mild dispute." Mild. Almost a lie. But not quite...if the scale of a serious argument was full out nuclear warfare.

"Oh," Will said. "It wasn't anything bad was it?"