Meant To Be

Chapter 41

A/N: Happy New Year! Sorry I'm a bit late, I didn't like how the chapter went so I made a lot of changes, plus I'm a procrastinator. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

Over the next few months, Harry and Tom continued to go out for dinner every Saturday baring if Tom had "work" to do. Most of the time, it would just be the two of them, but every other week they would take Wynter with them so she wasn't ignored. On the days it was just the two of them, Harry would pack a bag with her essentials for a few hours and take her over to Ron and Hermione's house so they could watch her, which they were more than happy to do.

The first time he had done so it had been hard. He had never been without her for very long, only when he went shopping, but she would be with Tom and she'd be okay and at home. But this time, he was leaving her somewhere else for a while with other people. Even though they were both familiar, it was just different dropping her off. He had given her a big hug and kiss before leaving. Wynter had been fine when they had come over and had gone straight to the small toy box that they had for her there, but when she saw him leaving, she had wanted to go with him and got upset when she realized she was staying here. There had been many tears shed, some by Harry before he was able to leave and get ready in time for Tom's arrival. Tom could tell that he had been upset and did his best to distract him by taking him to a very nice Italian restaurant and it worked, but his worry about how Wynter was doing was at the back of his mind the entire time, it was enough to drown out his nerves on being on a date with Tom. They still had a nice time though, but when they got back, Harry had left Tom at his house while he went to pick her up and she held on so tight only letting go when she saw her Daddy was there to see her and put her to bed. She ended up waking up shortly after Tom left and she ended up spending the night in his bed, curled up against his chest.

After that, she got used to being left with her Aunt and Uncle every week and when he would drop her off, she would just tell him "Bye, Bye, Mama," and resume playing, like it was nothing. Which it was, he would be back later to get her and she now knew that. It made Harry feel better that she was okay with it and he could focus on being properly nervous on his date.

He had every right to be because Tom did not do things by halves, they went to fancy restaurants from all over Britain, a few times even out of the country for some authentic Mediterranean and Mexican food. Though he did tone it down to more family-friendly places when they had Wynter with them, he had learned from last time. During their dinners, they would talk about everything. What they did during the day, Tom was a little more reserved as Harry didn't want to hear about the war. But all in all, things were going well, yet Harry still held Tom at arm's length, apprehensive about letting him any closer.

While yes, they were getting along, he was still scared and hurt by Tom's actions from before and was afraid he would do it again. Harry didn't think he could go through that again. He could see that Tom was trying though, and that was enough.

The only thing Harry had been worried about was their strange connection acting up with them being apart, but for some reason, it didn't. Maybe because it knew they were trying to work things out and not actively trying to flat-out deny it? He didn't know how it worked and hadn't given it much thought since Tom and he had decided to be together. He didn't think Tom did either, too preoccupied with being here for Wynter, that their connection hadn't been brought up again. He probably should look into it, but when Wynter was calling for him saying she was hungry or wanted to play...well, that was more important.

Wynter will be his priority and he did anything he could for her, but the whole thing with Tom was complicated. She constantly asked where her Daddy was and if he was coming to play, and it would tear him apart a little when he told her no because it would make her so sad. So, when they started date night, it would at least allow Wynter to spend time with him, even if it was only on the weekend. Tom was respecting his wishes and gave him the space he needed just as he told him to. And Wynter seemed to understand that they were working on whatever had made them sad because she wasn't as pushy as at the beginning of their separation. Not that he didn't push her feelings aside because he was still feeling hurt. Tom was still her father and if she wanted to see him, he didn't have the right to deny her.