Brace
Percy’s never really feared Audrey.
Yes, there was that one time she had used accidental magic, when her emotions had been so volatile she’d lost control after she had first given birth to the twins, but that had been years ago. The girls were now in primary school, and there had been nothing like that since.
Until now.
He’s not sure how it even happened; he had dropped the girls off at the local primary school with their bookbags. They were a team, of course, so Percy got the girls ready for the day while Audrey prepared their lunches. It was chaotic and loud as most mornings were at their home. He had ushered the girls out the door quickly, they barely had time to finish breakfast, and rushed them to school. When he returned to gather his belongings and start his day, Audrey had been waiting for him in the kitchen. That was strange, because she usually left after he dropped the girls off and was gone when he came home.
He had panicked, briefly. Images swirled in his head about the worst-case scenario- had the school rung their muggle landline? Had something happened to her sister, or his mother?
He sets his keys down on the table.
“Audrey? What’s wrong?”
She’s looking at something on the counter. Percy can’t quite see it; she’s blocking his view. She doesn’t move.
“Audrey?” he tries again.
Finally, she moves out of the way. Percy’s heart skips a beat despite the normalcy of it all; one of the girl’s lunches was still sitting on the counter. It was Molly’s- there’s a big ‘M’ and a smiley face written on the brown paper bag in marker. This wasn’t world-ending. He'd just forgotten to give Molly her lunch.
“Oh,” he says a bit dumbly and even more relieved. “I must have forgotten to-,”
“Do you enjoy making me upset, Percy?” she interrupts. He blinks at her. Surely, she can’t be upset over such a simple mistake.
His stomach tightens anyway.
“Audrey, it was an accident. I had a busy morning.” He tries to placate his wife.
“So did I. And I still found the time to pack the lunches and place them on the same exact spot I’ve been placing their lunches for three years.”
“I-,”
“Am I not being clear enough? Should I take over getting the girls to school, too? Since you can’t seem to handle something so simple.”
He licks his lips. “I can just take a detour on the way to work and drop it off for Molly.”
She tilts her head curiously at him, her face oddly blank but eyes gleaming with that odd look he recognizes from their trip to France years ago.
“Well, what happens when they unpack their packs? And Molly sees that there’s not lunch. What if the teacher sees? They’ll think I’m a terrible mother who sends their child to school without food.”
“I can always explain-,”
“You always do this, Percy! You always go out of your way to remind me that I prioritized my career over my family!” she takes a step toward him. She’s quickly becoming someone he doesn’t recognize in anger. And it scares him.
“Audrey,” he says, splaying his hands out, palms up, trying to calm her down, but he can tell she’s a bit past that point. His mouth dries like he’s got cotton in it.
He’s never been scared of his wife until now.
“You-, I can take her lunch to her and explain that I forgot to send it to school with her. We’re a team, so I can-,” He supplies weakly, taking a step back. His back hits the kitchen wall.
“Then try and actually-,” suddenly she’s looking around, eyes darting across the room, and there’s a bowl from Lucy’s breakfast next to the sink, soaring in the air. She hurls it at him. Right at his head. “Back me up!”
He sees it coming and ducks, covering his face. The bowl shatters above his head the ceramic pieces rain down into his hair, onto his shoulders, and finally onto the floor. They both stare at it in disbelief. Percy’s ears are ringing.
She actually threw something at him. His wife had tried to hurt him.
The same thought must have been going through her mind because her eyes at once fill with tears.
“Percy, I-, I didn’t mean to do that I was just-, Merlin-,”
She takes a step forward. Percy is still staring at those broken pieces of his five-year-old child’s bowl that she had just aimed at his head.
“Percy, baby, I swear I didn’t mean to do that. I’m just under a lot of stress right now.” She begs. She gets closer to him and wraps him in a tight hug. She’s trembling.
“I didn’t mean to. You know I didn’t, right? I love you, Percy. I would never hurt you.”
“Right.” Percy echoes softly.
When he gets to work after dropping Molly's lunch off at school, he’s still brushing slivers of ceramic out of his hair.
They don’t talk much about it, afterward.
When Percy comes home from work, Audrey has picked up the kids and is helping them with their homework. Percy greets them.
“Hi girls,” he says, trying very hard to not look his wife in her eyes.
The twins shriek and squeal in delight at his arrival and throw themselves at them. They’re getting so big; Percy can barely lift them into his arms. He kisses them both on their foreheads.
“How was school?”
Molly, the more talkative of two, immediately launches into a story about how they were learning about the water cycle. Percy sets them both down and listens patiently, although he got to admit he doesn’t have any idea what she’s talking about. He grew up being homeschooled by his parents; Audrey was the one who had gone to a muggle primary school and insisted the girls do as well.
When she’s finished talking, which takes quite a while, he goes into the kitchen and pulls out the chicken he had put into the refrigerator earlier to being prepare dinner. He hears the door swing behind him and glances over his shoulder. It’s Audrey, a small smile on her face.
“Hi.” She says quietly.
“Hey.” He replies and turns back to the chicken.
“Percy- I need you to know that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I love you, you know that, right?”
“I know.”
He pulls out the celery as well. There’s no need to use a cutting board, he’s charmed all the surfaces to be anti-scratch years ago. He cuts off the roots and leafy tops.
“Look,” she says, and Percy turns around. He sees she’s holding something out to him, a small card. He frowns and takes it. A business card.
Melvin Ambrose
Anger Counselor
555-XXX-XX
Floo Call Number 381
“Therapy?” he asks, a bit surprised. She nods, her smiling growing a little brighter.
“I meant it when I said I’d never want to hurt you. I have my first appointment next week.”
Something in Percy lifts. She knew what she did was bad, and she was taking steps outside of him asking to fix it. The effort she was putting in, made it clear that she did care.
Tears threaten to spill from his eyes.
“Oh, honey,” she says, her voice getting a little thick as well. She wraps Percy in a tight, warm and hug and she’s suddenly his Audrey again, the same girl who he married in a courthouse wearing a tea dress.
“I love you. We’ll be okay.” She says into his ear.
“We’ll be okay.” Percy agrees.