Who?...
What?...

Too many questions, and no answers to go along with them. It had been eating at Draco for the better half of the day, plus worrying about Elise.
Should I go after her?
Should I save her from something like her toxic relationship she is so blind she can't see. No, she isn't blind. She is smart, and she can take of herself, she didn't need you Draco. Or, at least that's what he was trying to get himself to believe.

He reminds himself over and over, he hated this. Everything. Was. Falling. Apart. But, it seemed it was only falling apart for him. And doing the exact opposite for Elise. Her life was coming together, had passed the first half of the year, and now she was on a roll with the second half, even if she had some troubles with the delivery, she caught up because that's how she worked, and Draco wished he could compliment her without being scared and without having to hide away like he had for all of those years, when he wasn't in control of his own life. He wasn't in control of the first 17 and a half years of his life, and he did not, ever, want to go back to not having the control over himself and his life, not now not ever.

⚤⚤⚤

"Oh! Look how cute Charlie!" Elise points at a baby outfit in the window on display.

Elise hears him sigh, but when she looks at him he puts on a smile and walks up to her and puts his arms around her.

"Why don't we go on a date? For lunch." He suggests, kissing her neck now. She moves out of the hug.

"What about the kids?" She motions to the stroller.

"We can just park the stroller outside of the restaurant," He shrugged.

"Charlie, they aren't dog—"

"Don't worry, I can handle this, baby," He goes in for a kiss, and one of the babies cries out, Elise thanks the baby in her head and crouches down to help.

Charlie groans, and uses his hands as a brush and runs through his hair, with annoyance. After the child is another, Elise stands up and Charlie smiles, not convincing at all.

"Which restaurant do you want to go to again?" Elise asks, changing the mood of the tension between them.

Charlie looks up at her, then takes a look around at the shops lining the streets. "How about that one?" Charlie points to a bar.

Elise follows his finger and stares at the bar, and feels her stomach flip. She didn't like bars, she decided at a young age that they were disgusting. She put a hand go her stomach to ease the knot. Of course, Charlie doesn't notice. She closes her eyes and takes deep breaths. But, once she feels stable enough, she opens her eyes and shakes her head.

"I can't go in there." She shakes her head again, her sweet girl act in front of Charlie dropped. Charlie turns and looks at her with confusion.

"Why?" He almost seemed angry. It was the annoyance that started everything off and now the ball was rolling even faster, leading to anger.

Elise tensed at his tone. "It's a bar, Charlie." her sweet voice was back. "I don't drink. And we have the kids here." she shrugged, not knowing what else to do.

"Elise." he grabs her shoulders, his fingers digging into her the skin, a little too roughly for Elise's liking, and she tenses with fear. "They aren't real. They are a bloody potion that came to life. Stop caring so much and grow up." He sighs, drops his hands and grabs her wrist roughly as well and pulls her to the bar.

"Charlie," She tries to call his name without triggering more anger but still wants to get his attention. "Charlie, slow down, you're hurting me, Charlie." She says a little louder, and even if he did hear her, he didn't listen. "Charlie! Please stop!" She screams. He turns in surprise at how she is talking to him. He lifts her wrist in his hand so he can see it without having to look down, and looks back at her, he can clearly see her pain and fear, his face softens and he leans into her for a hug, she freezes and doesn't return the hug, too frightened to move.

Charles notices this, and yells out a frustrated sound and pulls away from her, still holding onto her wrist and snaps his hand down, they both hear the crack of the bone.

Elise screams immediately. Draco is there immediately.