feelings that come back are feelings that never left,

[Theodore Remus Lupin]

When he had been sitting in that exam room, holding a towel to his bloody shoulder, he never expected Victorie to be the healer who walked in to treat her. The odds were so unlikely with the number of healers that worked in that hospital – and yet somehow fate had brought them together that afternoon. The awkward silence as she worked turned into a very emotional moment for them both as they came to realize that things could have played out entirely different if they had only learned to communicate with one another a little better.

She found out he had been holding off on coming home until he could provide her the kind of life he thought she deserved, and he found out that she had been pregnant before he left and lost the baby. In the end, they both admitted that they still loved the other, but before he could say anything else, she had excused herself. Not before telling him to stop by sometime, however – leaving him standing in the middle of the exam room dumbstruck for a few moments as what just happened really sank in.

Teddy had far from expected things between them to unfold as they did – and he apparated from the exam room straight to his bedroom at his new ranch home and laid on his bed just replaying the events at first. She had asked him to stop by sometime, but that did not give him any idea where they really stood, and that was going to drive him crazy. It was still unbelievable to him that she still loved him after all this time, after being with someone else – but to have loved him still through all of it? He needed to know where they go from here. Do they just pick things up where they left off? Do they attempt to start over?

Shortly after laying down and pondering this for a while Teddy fell asleep, and stayed asleep until late into the next morning, something that was unusual for him. After a long steaming shower, he decided to get dressed in clothes that weren’t torn up this time and go down to the hospital to see if he could convince Torie to come to dinner one night. Pleased when she agreed he wrote down his address, and they agreed on the night and time – but it was a short-lived conversation as a patient with major injuries came in and Victorie was torn away from him for work for now.

It had been a few days since then and tonight was the night – Saturday evening, and Torie would be there by seven. Despite his injury, Teddy had continued to work, simply doing his best to be easy on that arm and wear the sling when he was at home if it was really bothering him. That day, Teddy had finished up with his work at the school early, cleaning creature’s pens and barns that were enchanted to become perfect habitats for each creature he brought in. He walked down to the village and then apparated home to his Victorian ranch style home that sits on acres of property – and he wandered away from the house and checked on a couple of creatures that were being treated in his barn there.

When he finished up there he went and took a shower and cleaned the days dirt off of him, put new bandages on the mostly healed gash on his shoulder and got dressed in his nicest pair of jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt – then took in his appearance in the mirror. During school hours he often took on an appearance of a much younger version of himself – by about ten to fifteen years; but for tonight he didn’t want to make things feel weird for her (as Claire often told him it was unsettling seeing him like he hadn’t aged a day), so he took on an appearance slightly more showing of his age.

There were small signs of age at the corners of his eyes, what facial hair he does keep around to hide a couple particularly nasty scars has flecks of grey – though his eyes are still a chilling vibrant blue, and his brown hair has his signature streaks of bright teal. Unfortunately, with hiding less of his age, also came a difficulty in keeping the worse scars hidden – like a small scar above his eye that goes through his eyebrow, a long and jagged scar along his uninjured left arm, and one that is mostly hidden by the thin layer of facial hair that goes down his right cheek and becomes visible at his neck where it ends about halfway to his shoulder. He wasn’t entirely pleased with this, and attempted to hide them, but only managed to make them fade, at which point he gave up and decided to head downstairs to the kitchen and start cooking a dinner for him and Torie.

Teddy isn’t much of a cook, but the few meals he does know how to cook he has mastered – and because it had been Torie’s favorite meal, he had made sure to learn how to make it. After a little while of cooking he found himself rubbing his sore shoulder and looking up at his clock – it was nearly seven, Torie would be here any minute and the food was nearly done. Smiling to himself he found that he was both excited and incredibly nervous – it was almost like it was too good to be true that he was having dinner with her after all these years apart. There was so much more he hadn’t gotten to catch her up on in their short meeting the other day – so much they needed to talk about.

Finishing up the food he waved his wand to set the table with magic and looked around his house – still somewhat empty of furniture but with no shortage of décor, pieces that all come from numerous and some unusual places around the world but somehow oddly fit together. Pretty much all of it had sat in storage until he bought this house just after taking the job at Hogwarts. He couldn’t wait to see Torie’s reaction when she finally got to tell her that he was back for good – maybe, just maybe, there was still a chance for them to be together after all the years they spent apart.