"I see you haven't moved," Harry says resentfully as he walks into the kitchen. After the argument that they had, he stormed upstairs and proceeded to throw around some of their things. He was furious at the way she had been talking to him, and he didn't appreciate the way she talked about Celia. He was also mad that she seem to be forgetting how long they were together. Eighteen years is not something that someone forgets easily.

"I've made my conditions for the divorce," Aurelia says as she holds out a piece of paper. Harry refrains from rolling his eyes as he takes it from her hands. His eyes scan the paper and is pleasantly surprised he sees what she wants. He notices that neither the shares of the company, the car, or the penthouse is on the list. It's actually quite short, there are only four things.

The first one, which is where she asks for him to not tell Fynn about the divorce. That one is reasonable enough. Aurelia's rationale behind this is that she didn't want her son to be distracted from the exams. She wants his mind to be solely focused on studying and passing so he can move on to the next grade. She doesn't want to be the one that's responsible for him failing, and Harry agrees that he doesn't want to be the reason either.

The second condition is an add on to the first one, and it's asking him to stay at the penthouse until Fynn's exams are done. She doesn't want him to be distracted by the fact that his father is not around anymore. He agrees to this because it makes sense in his mind. He doesn't want to make his son go through the pain that his wife is dealing with. Aurelia assures him that he does not have to stay in the same bed as her, one of them can stay in the guestroom. All they have to do is make sure that Fynn doesn't notice that they're sleeping in separate beds.

The third condition is a little odd in Harry's opinion. It requires him to remind Aurelia every night before they go to bed that he is divorcing her and why. He doesn't get why she needs the daily reminder of what he's doing to her, but who is he to deny this request? At least this will set him free, this will hopefully make things easier in the long run. He's sure that this may make things harder for her, but she asked for it. She wants this.

The final condition is something that makes his heart lurch a little. She wants him to carry her from the bedroom all the way out of the penthouse every morning for the 30 days until Fynn's exams. After their wedding, Harry had insisted on carrying Aurelia through the threshold of their newly bought home. They had still been living in Santa Cruz at the time. Harry can't help but wonder if this is some sort of ploy to get him to love her again, but he's sure that it's not. This is the condition that he has the biggest problem with, but he eventually agrees, resigned to the fact that he at least owes his wife this last bit of comfort.

"You'll sign the papers after Fynn's exams, right?" Harry asks as he runs his fingers through his hair.

"Yes, Harry," Aurelia says. "I know that you want to go now, so you can. I said what I needed to, and there's nothing I can do to stop you. Thank you for the years of happiness that you gave me, and I hope that Celia will be able to make you happier than I could. Maybe she'll be able to give you another kid," she continues. He feels a slight pang of guilt and he can't help but reach out to try and comfort her. She steps away from him and shakes her head.

"Aurelia-"

"I'll allow the conditions to start tomorrow night, so you can go. Spend the night with Cecilia and be happy," she interrupts. "I'm sorry I wasn't enough to make you happy, Harry, I truly am. I know these words fall on deaf ears, but I love you, and I always will." Harry doesn't even bother to correct his wife because she used the wrong name again, and merely watches her go, feeling a little guilty.

A few hours later, Harry finds himself at Celia's small apartment. She can't seem to stop laughing at his explanation of Aurelia's divorce conditions. She thinks that the list is ridiculous, especially the part where he has to carry Aurelia all the way though the penthouse and through the front door every morning. It's stupid that Aurelia thinks that this will make Harry fall back in love with her. Celia's confident that he'll never go back to his wife, especially since she's younger and can satisfy him in a way that she can't. It's what she's been doing for the past year, so she's not worried at all.

"Your wife is kidding herself if she thinks that this will win you back," Celia says as she calms herself down. "Aurelia always has been delusional."

"Yeah," Harry chuckles somewhat uncomfortably. Even though he is still adamant about the divorce, he doesn't like talking about his wife this way. It feels weird that Celia is so invested in what's happening, and that she mentions his wife every chance she gets. She tries to tear her down and he doesn't like it. "Listen, whenever we're together, please don't talk about Aurelia. That's my business, not yours."

"Please," Celia scoffs. "You made your marriage my business the second we started fucking."

"That may be so, but I've spent almost half my life with the woman. I don't want to make her any more miserable than I already have," Harry says calmly. "I want this divorce to be as painless as possible and you're not making it any easier."

"Fine, fine," Celia says, knowing that she's pushing her luck. The fact that she's convinced him to leave his wife is proof enough that he's completely devoted to her.

"Now, where were we?" Harry murmurs to himself as he slowly slides down the bed and situates himself between Celia's legs. His hands go to beneath under her hips and to her ass, where he roughly squeezes the flesh. She moans in response and her eyes flutter close as he brings his mouth down to her now aching core.

She feels pure bliss, especially as Harry mercilessly pounds into her. His lips wrap around her taught nipple and lightly bites down, creating a mixture of pleasure and pain. Even after he feels her clench around him, he continues to thrust into her. When he finally comes undone, he lets out a strangled cry and buries his face in the crook of her neck. His breathing is uneven and he slowly moves away from Celia. She gives him a confused look but relaxes as she watches him out his boxers back on before laying beside her.

"You're more frustrated than I previously thought," Celia giggles as Harry rests his head on her bare chest. "I really felt it then."

"I have a lot of problems that are piling up, Celia, of course I'm frustrated," Harry replies.

"Well, I'm glad that I'm the one who gets to feel your frustration," she says, stroking his hair. Harry cringes at her choice of words but doesn't move away from her. Instead, he merely blocks out her voice as he occasionally kisses the soft skin of her breasts.

**** **** **** ****

Harry lets out another sigh as he looks at the clock on the wall. It's nearly ten at night and Aurelia hasn't come home yet. She never goes out, especially when she has work the following day. She actually prefers to go to bed at eight every night and it was something he teased her about. He didn't actually mind going to bed so early because it really helped him in the mornings. He still goes to bed at eight despite not being around her as much. He's tried calling her a few times but she hasn't answered her phone at all. It's entirely possible that she's not answering out of spite, and he hopes it's only that and not anything more serious. Fynn is already in bed, though Harry's sure that he's wide awake and playing online video games.

Just as he's about to leave the penthouse to see if he can somehow track Aurelia down, she comes walking in through the front door. He immediately walks up to her and places his finger under her chin, making her look at him. Her eyes aren't red, so that mean she hasn't been out drinking. She doesn't seem to be hurt in anyway so that's out. Why did she come home so late? Was it possible that she had been with another man? Or could she have been out with a friend and just lost track of time?

"What are you doing here?" Aurelia asks, her eyes widening in surprise. "I thought that you'd be with Celia."

"You told me to be here tonight, remember?" Harry says, frowning. "As part of the conditions for the divorce?" He adds, hoping that this would make her remember. He sees many emotions flash through her brown eyes and she steps away from him.

"Right," she mutters under her breath. "Have you already eaten?"

"Uh yeah," Harry says. "There wasn't a lot of food in the fridge or the cupboards so I ordered takeout for Fynn and I."

"Oh!" Aurelia exclaims. "That's why I left the penthouse. I meant to get food for the place."

"And you forgot?" Harry asks, his eyebrow raising.

"Yeah," Aurelia chuckles. "Sorry Harry. Now that I remember, I'll just go to the store and get some food."

"Let me come with you," he says immediately. "I can't have you coming home so late again."

"Why should you care about when I come home?" Aurelia asks with a raised eyebrow as she walks back out of the penthouse, not even bothering to wait for Harry. "You're no longer bound to me. I don't have to worry about you coming home just as you don't have to worry about me."

"We have to for the next thirty days, Aurelia," Harry says, frowning. "We're officially splitting after Fynn's exams."

"Right," she sighs. She doesn't say anything else and Harry doesn't really care enough to start another conversation. This isn't how he wanted this evening to go, especially since this was way past the time he usually goes to bed. He's a little annoyed that Aurelia came home so late, and that she's forgot to get groceries. He didn't really want to come with her to get more food, but seemed like the decent thing to do at the time.

The trip to the store is quick, and Harry has to take over pushing the car and picking out the food because Aurelia keeps getting distracted. When they get home she puts away the groceries while he goes up to the room and changes into his pajamas. She comes up a few minutes later and changes in the bathroom. He sees that she's wearing the flannel pants that he got her for her birthday a few years back, and an old T-shirt of his. He rolls his eyes before getting under the covers on his side of the bed. Aurelia climbs in and places a pillow between her body and his so they'll stay on their respective sides of the bed. Harry goes to bed almost instantly, while she remains awake for most of the night.

"Are you ready?" Harry asks the follow g morning. Aurelia is just pulling on her work trousers and nods slowly. She doesn't move any closer to him and he refrains from showing his impatience as he walks over to her. As he awkwardly scoops her into his arms, it hits him that this is the first time he's been this close to his wife in a long time. He's fairly sure that the last time he's held her in this way was a few months ago, right before he fell in love with Celia.

"Mum? Dad?" Fynn says when he sees his parents coming down the stair case. His eyes widen when he sees his his mother is in his father's arms and he feels an inexplicable rush of happiness. Maybe his parents really were going to be alright. "What's going on?"

"I...I had a sudden urge to carry your mother outside," Harry says, thinking quickly.

"That's awesome!" Fynn says happily. "I'll open the door for you," he adds as he rushes over to open it.

"Thanks baby," Aurelia says with a tired smile. "I can pick you up from school today."

"Let me," Harry says hastily. "I haven't picked up Fynn in a long time and I figured that now's a good time to start doing it again." He doesn't dare add the fact that he was scared that she'd forget, which is why he stepped in.

"That's fine," Aurelia says as Harry sets her down. He hands her the bag hanging up on the hook near the door and she makes sure that her phone and keys are in it. "I'll see my favourite boys later tonight." Harry smiles uncomfortably at this while Fynn cheers. The two watch as she leaves for work and Harry ultimately decides to drive his son to school instead of getting to work early so he can spend some time with Celia.

[•]•[•]•[•]•[•]

a/n: If any of you are familiar with my work, I usually like to leave little hints here and there before I reveal something big. So far, no one has really noticed anything.