Yours truly ; Charlie Weasley

Thirty-five

When I woke up again, I was lying on the floor, on my back with Charlie by my side. He was on his knees, checking for any injuries. When he saw that my eye opened, I heard him let out a shaky breath of relief and I felt him press a hand to my jaw, turning my head to look at him.

"What happened?" I asked in a whisper, my voice small and fragile, my eyes searching for Charlie's.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, ignoring my question. "Or drank? Do you drink enough water? You haven't been getting much sleep either, have you?"

I breathed deeply as I brought my shaking hands up to my forehead, closing my eyes.

"I can't do this anymore." I whispered, my voice shaking as I was so close to breaking into tears. "It's too much."

"What?" He questioned softly. I removed my hands from my forehead and turned my head to look at him while I placed a flat hand to my stomach and took a deep breath.

"We can't keep doing this." I whispered. Charlie was starting to get blurry as tears were forming in my eyes. "We have been fighting constantly for the past four days. It's stressing me out and I need a break from it. I need a break from you."

"What?" He laughed, apparently thinking I wasn't being serious. His laughter stopped quickly though and a frown took over. "You're joking."

I sobbed and shook my head as I went back to look up at the ceiling.

"Just for a few weeks." I said, my voice breaking at the last word. Charlie didn't say anything. He sat down properly on the floor next to where I was laying, his eyes staring right at me.

I sat up and ran a hand over my forehead before running it into my hair.

"No." Charlie then spoke, causing me to look at him. He was shaking his head while staring at me. "I'm not leaving."

"Charlie—"

"No!" He repeated. "I told you I was staying. I am not leaving you again."

I watched him as he stood up and walked over to the counter to grab his glass of water.

"It isn't up to you!" I raised my voice slightly. "This is my loft and I need you to get out so I can get a fucking break because I can't handle it anymore. I am so close to breaking and I just— I can't."

"Why are you doing this to me?" he asked in a whisper without looking at me.

"Don't start again." I said. "I am trying to take care of myself and I can't do that with you constantly in my ear, complaining about things I do to help us through this shit."

He walked back over to me, handing me the glass of water. He watched me as I drank every single drop of it, then handed back the glass.

"You're doing the same thing I did."

My actions froze for a moment before I slowly looked up at him, then pulled myself to my feet.

"Do not compare this to that." I said. "I am not leaving you. I need a few weeks away from you because I feel so drained mentally and I need a break. What you did was horrible and it wasn't for you own. You made a decision on behalf of the both of us and left for six months. There is no way that is remotely close to me wanting some space."

Charlie brought his hands up to cup my face, but I stepped back. He inhaled sharply, tearing up at my rejection.

"Darling, please don't. We both know how it's gonna go. The longer we stay away from each other, the more distance we will create."

Oh is that so?

"Right." I breathed. "But you do realise that you were the one who created distance between us when you left? You can't do that and then later expect me to be completely fine and forgive you. You can't accuse me of wanting space either because you got your space while I was hurting, and now I want mine. It's only two weeks. I'm sure you'll manage, Charles."

I turned around to walk towards the bedroom so I could get some sleep. I didn't want to risk fainting again. My head was hurting, I was bloody exhausted both mentally and physically. I just needed some rest.

"Marry me."

At the sound of Charlie's voice and the words leaving his mouth, I froze in my tracks. I just stared ahead for a while, not knowing what to do or say. Then I felt the anger boil and I turned around, walking back towards him. I went to push him in the chest, but his hands wrapped around my wrists while we looked at each other.

"Fuck you." I spat.

"Marry me." He repeated. His expression was soft, so was his voice, but mine was full of anger.

"You're being toxic." I told him. "You're being toxic and you're trying to manipulate me."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are." I nodded. "That's manipulation — trying to use that against me so I won't kick you out."

I tried to get out of his grip to push him away from me, but he kept his hands around my wrists, preventing me from getting away from him.

"I want to marry you, Ember." He said. "It's not some kind of trick. It's not manipulation. I want to marry you and I've got the ring if you say yes. I want to marry you because I love you and I've always loved you."

"No." I shook my head. "You want to marry me because you think that fixes everything. Newsflash, Charles. You don't marry someone to fix the problems they have."

He sighed and let go of my wrists, watching me as I slowly backed up.

"Don't call me Charles." He said "Please don't call me Charles."

"Why? Because I only say it when I'm mad at you?"

He nodded.

"And I hate it when you're mad at me." He said. I ignored him and turned around, walking into the bedroom before he could stop me. "I want to marry you, Ember!"

I continued to ignore him as I got onto the bed and laid on my stomach, hugging my pillow close. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes but when I heard Charlie enter the room, I sighed.

"I was planning on proposing before I left and I was planning on proposing before we started fighting. I'm not saying this because you're telling me to leave. I am saying this because I fucking love you and I can't live without you."

I felt the bed dip and then I felt his presence as he laid down next to me.

"I don't want to marry you." I whispered, meaning it. I turned my head to look at him. He was on his back, staring up at the ceilings and just as I looked at him, a tear rolled down his cheek but he quickly wiped it away.

"You don't want to marry me."

It didn't sound like a question. It just sounded like he was saying it to himself, like he couldn't believe what he had heard.

"Not now." I whispered. "Not for a while. Not until we're okay again."

He turned his head to look at me and my heart ached. His eyes were full of pain, full of tears as well as mine. We were both hurting.

"Just two weeks, yeah?" He whispered, moving a hand up to brush my hair out of my face. "I might be able to stay with Bill and Fleur — maybe mum and dad. Just two weeks."