Defective Defecting

“I want it to make you happy too, you daft bat,” she teased despite herself, lifting her head a little to rub the tears away from under her eyes. She lifted her head a little and tipped it towards his, letting her cheek rest against his.

She sighed softly and felt a half smile pick at her lips. He wanted to protect her. She wanted to tell him to join the queue but in truth she was grateful. She was grateful he cared.

“That’s what I tried to do, too,” she conceded, referring to her rather reckless attempt to spurn Tobias. “I guess we both messed up a bit.”

She wiggled a bit and dropped down onto her feet, letting her arms fall from his neck to his sides, her fingers pressing into his shirt, keeping hold of him just in case he wanted to back away from her again. She smiled up at him and reached with her right hand for his left, lacing their fingers gently together.

“Would you like to do something soon? Something, maybe, I don’t know… dinner somewhere, perhaps? We can work out what we want without,” she cast a furtive look in the direction of the shop, “prying eyes.”

Once they had broadly planned what they were doing, Liv popped up onto her tip toes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before she could get embarrassed for doing so. She promised to owl him and checked, again, if he was alright, running her thumb across his face as she did so, before they parted ways.

Athena darted back to the desk when Livia made her approach. Millie knew that she couldn’t be nearly as deft and cradled her tea in her hands, eyeing Keiran whom she had given his coffee in the hope he wouldn’t brood too much. She half wanted to sit down with Darcie and make a fuss of Tobias but she wasn’t sure the cat would appreciate it much. Instead, she decided to focus on Liv.

“How’d it go?” She asked when the girl re-entered the shop, hands in the pockets of her dungarees.

“Not bad all considered.” Liv shrugged, smiling a little.

“He was good looking, eh?” Millie enthused. The brunette blushed, ducking her head as she went to retrieve her tea.

“Bit young for you, Mills,” Athena quipped before she could help herself.

The blonde smirked, leaning into Keiran playfully. “Men not boys, Thea. No offense Liv.”

“None…taken?” She raised an eyebrow.

“So, when’s he coming round for dinner?”

The sound of the Scot choking on her tea followed. Not in a bloody hurry, that's when.

Simon was, indeed, happy. But he wasn't sure that it would last. So when he left, he didn't go home right away. He needed to think, he needed to go for a walk. His feet took him back to the park they had visited the week before, and he ran through the possible outcomes as he meandered through it.

Back in the bookshop, Keiran could feel his temper brewing. How long he would be able to cover it... well, he wasn't really sure. Liv came in, but he only glanced at her to gauge her current feelings on what had happened before turning his attention back to the cup of coffee that Millie had handed him.

He looked up, however, quite suddenly when Athena sassed Millie, frowning at her. He contemplated pointing out that, at one point, she had seemingly been interested in him as well, but he had a feeling that would only make things much worse. His hands just held onto the mug more tightly, but he did look Millie's way when she bumped him, attempting to muster a look of amusement. Of course, when Millie asked about Simon, Keiran couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"Never," he muttered into his mug before taking a sip. As he lowered it from his lips, he shifted it to one hand, reaching towards Millie with the other. He turned her chin towards him so he could give her a brief, almost not even there kiss. With that, he moved towards the counter without even looking Liv's way. "You'll have to excuse me," he said, audibly this time, as he set his mug down. Next to the counter, there was a box of books that were due to be shelved, and he picked it up, then turned around to move past Millie again. "I've got work to do."

He knew full well that he could have sent the books off to shelve themselves, but he told himself that he needed to know where the books sat so he could lead buyers to them rather than sending tomes flying through the store.

"Da," Darcie attempted as her father passed. She stayed with the cat, though, as if she knew he wouldn't want to be left on his own with the bigger humans.

Keiran shifted the box to one side, bracing it against his hip, and reached down with his free hand to jostle her hair before continuing past her and over to the new releases shelf.

If there was one thing, now, that the young brunette sought more than anything else then it was the approval of the man she loved above all others. Keiran. The approval of Keiran. In that, she was incredibly similar to Millie who, too, desired a contented man, unburdened and unperturbed by the choices she made. A happy man. Her happy man. His joy linked to hers inextricably. Like Millie, Livia was a satellite to him, revolving around him, the singular point of reference in her universe. The personification of home. And for him to brush her off, to react so resolutely in the direction of opinion that she had, admittedly, expected of him... She once again had to try and swallow back her tears.

"Hey," Mille's hands slid across Liv's upper arms, still feeling the ghost of his lips distractingly on hers. "I'll sort it out, okay?"

"But Mills what if-"

"I'll sort it," Millie reaffirmed, cupping Liv's cheek.

"He doesn't hate me, does he?" She asked, her voice minute, as if she could bear to consider it.

"Give that statement a little bit of thought, baby girl," Millie cautioned, her voice bearing just the edge of firmness.

"He doesn't..." Liv guessed, her features losing some of their strain.

"He could never," came the gentle correction of the blonde. "You're his baby girl."

"I'm not really a baby," Liv laughed a little. "I'm a bit bigger than the twins or Darcie."

"You're still our baby," Millie smiled, drawing her into a tight hug. "He's got his reasons, Liv, but it's mainly because he loves you. I'll talk to him, okay. We both just want you to be happy - and safe and loved and all the rest you already know. I'll talk to your pa."

Relinquishing her from her hold, Millie rubbed Liv's arms again. Then, turning, she made her way across to her bag which she had left behind her counter. A little bit of rummaging about produced a scraggly looking five pound note and five sickles. She gave Liv the latter, encouraging her to pop down to Sparks and get them all something nice for lunch. She gave her another sickle as an afterthought, instructing that she and Darcie also wanted a cookie each. Darcie would probably only have half. Papa would have the rest no doubt, in the end.

"Game plan?" Athena prompted once the door fell shut behind the Liv-bird.

"Whatever feels natural," Millie shrugged, glancing down at Darcie. She lifted her gaze briefly back up to Thea, whose silvery eyes were watching the girl like a hawk. Millie knew she had no need to worry but she left a little bit of magic behind to keep her safe. Even though the twins were with Bridget, perfectly safe, she had also done the same with them. Being without the children 24/7 was something she needed to get used to after Keiran's return but even as far into spring-cum-summer that they were, she still wasn't entirely comfortable. She needed to know where everyone was and that they were alright. Baldric was even vaguely aware of her magic buzzing about him and Ben but he couldn't quite work out if it really was her or if he was going mad. Perhaps it was high time Millie indulged in a Weasley-style clock.

After pressing a kiss to the top of Darcie's head, Millie trickled off towards the other end of the shop, or at least in the direction Keiran had gone. She found him soon enough and approached from behind, coming to stand at his shoulder. She smirked, lifting a hand to run a finger across the spines.

"Can you recommend me a good novel, book-man?" She lifted her head, her eyes bright and challenging. For a moment, they were other people, he a bookseller, she a customer. Desirous of pulling on his playfulness to brighten his mood, Millie took a step back and comically let her eyes dance about the shelves.

"We're in the wrong section aren't we?" She raised an eyebrow at him, another smile playing at her lips. "Is it towards the back?" One side of her lips quirked higher as she enunciated the last word, the double-entendre appearing despite herself. She decided to go with it, bringing her hand down to the small of his back. She glanced around, checking there were no customers hanging around. Then, she let her hand drift up towards the front of his shirt and she closed her fingers around the material left open at the top, tugging at him, urging him to turn to her.

"You owe me a proper kiss."

Keiran looked up when Livia left, watching her pass the window from within the stacks. Although he had suspected that Millie might come over to talk to him, he had expecting a chiding, and certainly not in the tone that she was using in order to pull his attention from the books. He glanced her way, and then again at her second question, that time turning his head properly to look at her confusedly. Believe it or not, reader, Keiran Hayes was not always an entirely quick study.

But perhaps that wasn't too surprising, given his history.

Her hand made his own hesitate and come to a stop, the shelving put on hold at least for a moment. She should have been angry with him, he thought. Should have come over to complain and tell him to go after Liv and talk to her. In truth, he had been expecting Liv to walk over, not Millie. It wouldn't have taken much to break him down. Just a questioning papa?, perhaps.

This was quite different. He left the book in his hand on the empty space of shelf, turning towards her as bidden. "Is that so?" Keiran asked, hands drifting across her waist. His gaze shifted from Millie to the shop window behind her, and it took all of two seconds for him to start backing away and tugging her along with him. The box he had set down was still quite full, so he reached for his wand, sending them onto the shelves on their own, completely ignoring his previous excuses for taking off.

"You're right, actually. There's a vastly more interesting section over here." Avoiding said box so that neither of them would trip over it, he led her into the back room, where they kept their stores and which acted like an office of sorts, nudging the door shut behind her.

He wasted no time, stepping towards her until she was backed up against the desk he had brought in, and wrapped his arms around her. She had requested a kiss and he certainly wasn't going to deny her that, so Keiran leaned down to meet her lips with his own. It was gentle at first, of course. His fingers splayed across her back even as the kiss slowly became more demanding, and as his other hand roamed down to the base of her spine, closing off the space left between them.

A question was nagging at him in the back of his mind, though, so when he broke away for air, he trailed a series of small kisses along her jaw until he found her ear. "Are you trying to cool me off?" He asked suspiciously, voice low to the point where it nearly caught in the back of his throat. Keiran took another breath. "Or is the over-protective thing just more attractive than I realized?" She had to know that, were the latter true, he would get quite the kick out of using it to his advantage. He smirked against her skin, leaving another lingering kiss where her neck met her jaw, waiting as she decided how she wanted to respond.

Bizarrely, there was a part of Millie that wanted him to actually show her the fiction section and find her something to read. Her bedside table had, lately, only really been populated by her glasses at the end of an evening. Well, that and a glass of warm milk. She hadn’t read anything since well before Christmas – not even a Divination book. Many had come out. She needed to catch up. She half wished she’d been gifted a more literal husband but then where would all of the fun be? It wouldn’t be in the back room now, would it?

She stepped back as Keiran directed and looked about herself as they changed into the back. She gasped as her bum hit the desk and her lips arched into a smirk just as he leaned down to cover her mouth with his. She reached up and her arms curled about his neck, drawing him closer to her just as he advanced upon her. Millie matched his kiss throe for throe, absorbing herself into him and the way his being intoxicated her senses, forgetting about what she had come to find him for. She’d certainly succeeded, anyway.

Bereft the loss of his lips, her brows dipped as though to furrow but smoothed out as his touch attached to her jaw. She tipped her head back, letting out a slow, gradual hum of pleasure. A cheeky smile lit up her face when his breath ghosted across her ear, his words reminding her of her intentions. She wriggled a little, conflicted about whether or not she should address the events that had transpired earlier or not.

“Oh, Merlin,” she breathed, unable to keep her voice from sounding raggedy, “both. I meant to ask what had bothered you so much but I can always ask later. I can wait if you can. But I’m not sure I can wait for you.”

Keiran laughed quietly, almost just to himself, and shook his head as he pulled away. "You really should know better by now, Missie. I can read you far better than you think."

He reached out to take hold of the back of the desk chair, swinging it around so it rolled over and came to a stop behind him. Leaving a quick kiss at the corner of her mouth, he released her completely, sinking into the chair and offering Millie a challenging look. As much as he missed the warmth that she had given off, he was actually fairly entertained by this game of sorts that she had - perhaps inadvertently - brought upon herself.

Eyebrows raised and smirk in tow, he looked the picture of someone casually relaxing in his seat, but undoubtedly she could read him just as well. His eyes were darker than usual, and held vastly more humor than they had done just minutes before.

"Something isn't right about that boy," he explained, holding out a hand to her in an attempt to draw her towards him. If his voice was still a bit gravelly, well, that was Millie's fault, wasn't it? "Liv isn't safe with him, and he knows it. Otherwise he wouldn't have looked so damn guilty."

He shook his head, releasing a heavy sigh. "I'll never be ready for that part of their lives. Just... not prepared."

She laughed despite herself and leaned up to press a kiss on his cheek as he pulled away, wishing he’d stay and procrastinate with her for a little bit longer, put off the talk for something a little more recreational in its stead. She knew, though, that they needed to mull the events of that morning over and decide, beyond teasing, whether or not they were going to support the relationship or not. It wasn’t something she wanted them to be divided on, precisely because it wasn’t their life and thus not truly their business. It wasn’t worth getting twisted up in a knot over … and yet, it was their Liv. They were already knotted. To her.

“I can still surprise you,” she warned, grinning at him. “Open book though I may be.”

She hated him for being able to just sit there while she wriggled against the desk, pressing her thighs together, attempting to regain some sort of control over her passions. He was a much better actor than she, even if the air about him gave him away. And those eyes. Merlin, those eyes. He was shamelessly handsome and, blessedly, all hers. Not for the first time, Millie was reminded of just how lucky she was. She would have to send the Ministry something sooner or later – a thank you gift of some sort.

She pushed off of the desk and took his hand, sliding into his lap. She nodded, sucking her lower lip between her teeth as she mulled his words over. A smile peeked at the side of her mouth when he sighed and she leaned into him, lifting her head to his temple where she planted a kiss in his skin.

“At least we can practise before the babies hit their teens,” she conceded, bringing up a hand to run her fingers through the front of his hair. “But …” she frowned. “What do you think? Like… just with duelling or something else or…?” She rolled her lips together worriedly. “She really likes him, Keiran. She wants us to approve. We…” she sighed gently. “Couldn’t we … couldn’t we … I don’t know. But if he if he can’t watch out for her or if he puts her in danger, and she’s pulled away from us to be with him and she gets hurt before we can get to her then we’re in the wrong – we’ll have hurt her. We can’t have that on our conscience, Keiran.”

Keiran's smirk merely widened at her claim, knowing that it wasn't at all a stretch to think she was right. Of course she was. She had honestly surprised him by showing up and trying to play a game with him. He wasn't sure they had really been up to much of anything off the wall since the beginning, and it was bizarrely amusing.

He smiled gently as she moved over to join him, immediately wrapping one arm around her back and reaching out with the other to curl his fingers around her thigh to keep her feet from falling to the ground. His thumb brushed back and forth across the skin beneath the hem of her skirt, trying to focus in on her words rather than what was beneath his fingertips. Still, Millie's own fingers were distracting until she became quite serious with him.

He dropped his head onto her shoulder, sighing and leaving a kiss on her neck before speaking. "You're right. I know you are, it's just... Millie, he could take her away regardless. Something Tobias said, I... I assumed it was just him trying to eat away at me, and maybe it was. But I can't just ignore it. There's something wrong, something bad in his past."

He lifted his head again, only to frown at his hand as it passed back and forth over a wider patch of her skin. "I'll look into it. But I'll talk to her about it, too. Perhaps it would be better to keep him where we can watch him. Where has she gone? I saw her leave. I'll figure something out when she comes back or... go by Peter's tonight or something."

The hand around her back lifted up to her hair so he could nudge her towards him, and he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I'll fix it, I promise."

The blonde witch wriggled in the dark-haired wizard’s lap mostly out of worry but significantly out of impatience, too. His fingers on her thighs were monstrously distracting. It was through sheer willpower that she kept her mind focused on the problem of Liv and Simon. Had she been a weaker woman, she knew she would have been an absolute mess. Well, she was an absolute mess – internally, at least. Merlin. She had to close her eyes and implore herself to focus. To remain worried about the fledgling relationship between their girl and, well, an entirely foreign entity to them. They could even claim, really, that anyone (other than Tobias who didn’t really count) knew him. Apart from Liv, that is. He was a stranger in every way. And what did that mean for them? Keiran was right, as much as she wanted to stay optimistic. He could still take her away. She could still be in danger.

“We need to find out,” she agreed, unable to keep from thinking that maybe they were going to open Pandora’s box and find trouble inside. She didn’t know if it was their right to go rooting around in Liv’s life like that, even if it was for her own good. She felt uncomfortable about it but then if Tobias was just mad … if there was nothing wrong with Simon and it was all unfounded … well they could feel as guilty about it as they liked. If there was, though, and they didn’t check and something happened … that wasn’t something that they would really get over, was it?

“I sent her down to Sparks to get some lunch for all of us. She needed some air. A chance to cool off, herself.” She didn’t take much coaxing to come closer to him. Smiling, she turned her head to steal a kiss from his lips instead, a small, chaste, loving one. “I know you will, love. Nothing’s broken, really, you know. She just wants you to support her. Maybe we should think about having him over. I know you don’t want to but even if we do go poking around in his past, we should get to know the man he is now. People change. You and are proof enough of that, aren’t we? And he looked lost, Keiran.” She frowned a bit. “We need to give him at least half a chance. For Liv.”

Keiran Hayes was not oblivious, though he may have been far better at pretending otherwise than his wife. May have been? Of course he was. He was also highly skilled, as he had previously argued, at reading her and picking up on those habits she returned to. Her fidgeting was no exception. His hand stilled, which Keiran decided belatedly might actually have been even worse than his not-entirely-absentminded movement from before. He knew from experience that it could actually be even more distracting when the motion halted. When would it start again? Would it start again? And what were they playing at, exactly, to leave a hand that high on a leg?

Still, he wanted to find a conclusion, a solution, to their dilemma. Then he could think about other things, if it suited them and if she were still interested in something along those lines. At least she was agreeing with him. That was a good start, as far as finding things out would go. He just hoped that it wouldn't backfire on him, although a very large part of him expected that it would.

When Millie explained where Liv had gone off to, the first thought that came to mind was: Well, we don't have long, then. Although, he rationalized, Liv might decide to go slowly, both out of distraught (which, to make quite clear, he was indeed feeling guilty for) but also out of a hope that he might be more relaxed about the whole thing by the time she returned if she took longer. Her kiss distracted his thoughts, sort of, though it sent them along an incredibly similar path, really.

He didn't want to entertain thoughts of whether or not Simon was in fact a lost boy, so to speak, because that would only make him feel more sorry for how he had treated Liv. Not the man himself so much, Keiran decided, but more sorry in a general sense, and in her general direction.

"She may decide she doesn't want to have him over," Keiran said almost hopefully. "We might embarrass her too much. Actually, that would be grand," he went on, a smile lighting up his face. "We should definitely do that. Might not get to for literal decades with the other ones. And it wouldn't be difficult at all to accomplish," he reasoned aloud, taking advantage of his wife's proximity. His lips found her shoulder as his thumb brushed over her leg again, much closer to where she probably would prefer it to be than it had been before. "We won't have to pretend to be disgustingly affectionate."