Boiling Point [Rowena]

[Max Kameren]

Today was finally the day. After a week of mind-numbing bed rest, Max’s chest and left hand were finally healed up enough that he got to leave the hospital… for rest at home! It wasn’t an enormous change and a bit of a setback for Max when he got the orders, but it was still another step closer to being able to get back to work so he jumped at it. A week of being a Mungo’s patient had been too much, Max missed the rhythm of his regular life. He missed his apartment, Eden, and Eden’s little shite of a cat. It was time to be home.

Max shrugged into an old t-shirt and packed up the few amenities Eden had brought him for his stay. He zipped up the backpack she’d brought them in with the soft clink of potions bottles for his healing accentuating his movements. It was harder to zip the bookbag one-handed; his right hand had been bandaged into a hook-shaped gauze club after he’d ripped the stitches accidentally one too many times and angered a nurse.

He used that club-hand to rub at his eye as he waited in the room for Rowena. She had a few things to pick up from her office as well today, and the couple had decided to bid their home-away-from-home goodbye together. For him temporarily, for Rowena on a more permanent basis. Max still couldn’t believe Rowena, the notoriously work-obsessed Healer-In-Charge Rowena Covington, was willingly leaving St. Mungo’s. When she’d told him Max didn’t argue knowing it couldn’t last. St. Mungo’s would call her back, he knew. It was where she belonged, just like him.

Knock, knock.

Max’s attention turned to the door just as Milton Bonham’s head poked tentatively through the gap to meet his eyes. “Max?” The Head of Hospital filed in quietly, closing the door silently behind him and leaning against it. “Can we chat, quick? Before you go?”

“Sure,” the Potions Master cocked his head in confusion at Milton’s hesitant tone but listened, hitching the backpack up on his shoulder. “What’s up, is something wrong? Can I still go today?”

“Yes, yes of course you can go today. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” Milton stepped closer to Max, putting a comforting hand on the younger wizard’s shoulder to try and transmit his own calm through his empathy. “I’m sure you know Rowena submitted her resignation, and after she decided to step back on top of your attack, I’ve made an executive decision.”

Max gave Milton a wary look and stood, his height shrugging the man’s hand off his shoulder; he knew what it looked and sounded like when Milton was trying to comfort him, he’d seen it too many times to miss it. Something was off. “Milton?” He chuckled, trying in vain to shake the feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. “Are you breaking up with me?”

Milton opened and closed his mouth, and that was all he needed to do to set Max off. He paced the length of the room, running a hand through his hair and only stopping to glare at his mentor, boring into him with his emerald eyes. He felt betrayed. “No, Milton. I’m not leaving. I’m not giving up.”

“Max, it’s not giving up to take time off to heal.” His tone became harsher as Max scoffed and turned away to continue pacing. This was the most frustrating thing about Kameren: he was bullheaded, just like his father. It would be the death of him, just like his father. “I’m not giving you an option in this. You’re taking time off. What do you plan to do, with your hand like that?”

“I have Harper!” Max exclaimed back, throwing his hands in the air, “and if you had the Catacombs in order in the first place maybe I wouldn’t be here at all!”

That got to Milton and he bristled, squaring his shoulders to argue back at his healer. He would take a certain degree of insubordination from Max, but not this. “Harper will be assuming your position until you’ve been deemed acceptable to return to work. This is not a negotiation, Max. Either you take paid sabbatical or you’re fired. End of story.”

Max set his jaw as if he wanted to bite back, but held his tongue. The idea of coming back to Mungo’s was the one thing he wanted most, the thing he was looking forward to. It was what all this healing was for. Instead he smoldered into his seething temper, angrily glaring at Milton until the old man took his leave.

[Rowena Jones]

Though she’d initially ceded her position immediately, wanting to throw herself into her next ventures and unable to be at the hospital too long without being by Max’s side (effectively making her useless at her job), Milton had allowed Rowena a few extra days to clear out her office and complete the monstrous task of clearing away her lab and it’s research.

While Max was getting the final all clear and packing up his few belongings, she was putting the last vials and tomes of her lifelong work into chests and sealing them with several protection charms. Her whole life was goodbyes, and this the latest. The dark haired witch looked around the room sadly, acknowledging the closing of this significant chapter and then, as she did with so much these days, pushing those negative and unproductive feelings aside and closing the door.

She walked into her office, well Mary’s now she supposed, and took the bag that was sitting on the empty table. The last few bits and bobs that had decorated the room. Her books had already been moved to her house, categorized into her extensive library. She’d found a few books out of place while doing that, she thought wryly, knowing who was the culprit. Speaking of, Max should be ready to leave.

Rowena walked down the corridor, passing a stony faced Milton and sighed. So he’d broken the news. He nodded tersely as he walked by and her heart sank. They’d known Max wasn’t going to take it well, but she was not looking forward to opening the door.

She did anyway. And she’d been right to worry. She could feel the anger coming off him in waves.
“Max, please,” she said wincing, “It’s not permanent. Just a little longer than you thought.”

[Max Kameren]

When Milton left Max sat on the edge of the bed, head between his hands as he stared at the floor. He should have expected this. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was. With everything surrounding Rowena and now Max happening at the hospital it only made sense that they take a leave of absence not just until he was healed but also until the entire matter was sorted. They didn’t want to hurt more patients, and the bad publicity was hurting the hospital. It was selfish of Max to want to stay; he was doing more harm than good here.

The rationalizations weren’t helping, and the hurt and anger spiraled and radiated off of him. The doorknob turned again, and Max could feel the presence of his girlfriend enter without looking up. He ran his hands through his hair before lifting his head to look at her, his green eyes deadened by his temper.

“Max, please,” she said wincing, “It’s not permanent. Just a little longer than you thought.”

She knew. Of course she did, Milton told Rowena everything about Max as if his girlfriend was his mother. She was the unlucky buffer the older wizard used to try to distract Max’s attention from whatever he was doing. Rowena was Milton’s bargaining chip and Max’s weak point; outside his family, Rowena was the first person he’d back down in a disagreement from. Milton knew that and used it.

“Really, did he give you an itinerary? Because ‘until you’ve been deemed acceptable’ seems pretty fucking indefinite.” Acceptable how? Until he was back to his normal productivity level? Being suddenly left-handed made that much more difficult for Max.

Knowing Milton, though, this wasn’t about his health as much as it was about the reputation of the hospital. Max wouldn’t be welcomed back until these attacks were sorted out. Which meant Max needed to work with the aurors and the Watch, another thing he couldn’t do with a hand too injured to cast complex spells. The week of recovery had Max pent-up with energy but gave him nowhere to turn with it. He felt like he was going to explode.

He hitched the backpack up on his shoulder, letting out a deep sigh to try to relieve his temper. “Let’s just go, I’m not saying goodbye to people now. I’m not having this conversation with another ten people.”

He held out a hand for Rowena to take and with a turn and a pop! they reappeared in the entryway of his and Eden’s apartment. Snitch padded up to greet them by rubbing through their legs, but when Max felt for Eden in the apartment she was nowhere to be found. “Eden’s out,” he told Rowena, stepping over the kneazle to cross to his room. He left the door open inviting Rowena to follow him and began trying to wrestle the backpack open with his left hand and his club-hand. What would have been bittersweet relief at being home had been soured by Milton twisting it into a prison sentence, and his aura still radiated.

[Rowena Jones]

“Really, did he give you an itinerary? Because ‘until you’ve been deemed acceptable’ seems pretty fucking indefinite.”

"No, he just pointed out the reasons that I'm leaving also apply to you and I agreed with him," Rowena said, Max's aura already rubbing her the wrong way. Merlin, she did not need this. She pressed her palm against her head trying to separate herself from his frustration but really she had enough to deal with on her own. He might have been lying in bed all week, but she hadn't been. She'd been to a funeral, been discovering things about her past, finding information, a lot of it troubling and saying goodbye to significant things in her life. Rowena knew it wasn't his fault, knew he'd wanted to be doing stuff, but she just couldn't deal with his irritation on top of everything else right now.

Max hitched the backpack up on his shoulder, letting out a deep sigh to try to relieve his temper. “Let’s just go, I’m not saying goodbye to people now. I’m not having this conversation with another ten people.”

Oh so because he didn't feel like saying goodbye meant that she had to follow? Was he forgetting that she also had a past here? That she was also leaving a place she considered her second home? Just because she was mature enough to be doing it voluntarily didn't mean it didn't hurt. She scowled even as she put her hand in Max's - looked like she'd be coming back alone to say her final goodbyes - and with a sharp pop they arrived in his apartment. 

 “Eden’s out,” Max said as he walked to his bedroom and Rowena sighed as she followed. For once having the other woman around might have been a blessing. It had been difficult to be around Max alone the past few days. He'd revealed a few things and then apparently not remembered any of it. Rowena wished it had been so easy for her to forget it, but it was impossible to forget those three words whispered as he fell asleep, or the fact that he'd almost married someone. 

She watched as he struggled to open his backpack, ignoring the part of her that wanted to help. Maybe it was petty to prove a point but if he was struggling to open a bag, how did he think he'd be able to work? Plus he'd probably bite her head off for trying to help. He was such an independent man, didn't need anyone, he made decisions for everyone, kept secrets...  Rowena scrunched her eyes closed, leaning against the closed door and trying to control herself, but it was as if Max's anger was the key to opening up all those boxes she'd put firmly away. Everything was building up inside her, every snide remark she hadn't made, every breakdown she had refused to have, every question she hadn't asked.

"Can you please fucking control yourself a little better?" she finally snapped. "As if I don't have enough to deal with."

[Max Kameren]

“Really, did he give you an itinerary? Because ‘until you’ve been deemed acceptable’ seems pretty fucking indefinite.”

"No, he just pointed out the reasons that I'm leaving also apply to you and I agreed with him,"

“Thank you, you know how I love it when others make decisions me.” He snapped back immediately. He paused to try to bite back his anger before he lashed out further, hitching his backpack up on his shoulder. “Let’s just go, I’m not saying goodbye to people now. I’m not having this conversation with another ten people.”

Rowena bristled at his suggestion and Max sighed impatiently; hadn’t she been here all week, cleaning out and saying goodbye? Able to go where she pleased without a stream of concerned gawkers following her every move? Wasn’t she able to have a bloody conversation with their colleagues without them giving her a simpering sympathetic look at the sight of her face? She’d had a horrifying week, Max knew, and he had wanted to help as much as he could but his week hadn’t gone well either. Rowena’s terrible week would pass. Max had to wear his on his body for the rest of his life.

She begrudgingly took his hand and he turned on his heel, apparating them both to the entry of his apartment. “Eden’s out,” he remarked, carrying his backpack to his bedroom. Rowena followed.

The irritation wafting off of Rowena’s aura left a metallic taste in Max’s mouth but he spitefully ignored it; something had been off with her the last few days, and he was growing impatient with whatever she was keeping from him. If it wasn’t his forced departure from Mungo’s what was it then?! He instead took out his aggression trying roughly to unzip his backpack one-handed. After over a minute of fumbling he grew frustrated and gave up, glancing up at Rowena for assistance. She’d been watching him the entire time. Alright, enough.

“What, god damnit, what?!” He exclaimed, pushing the backpack away and coming around the corner of the bed to face her. “You’ve been so weird the last few days, just tell me what the fuck I did.”

"Can you please fucking control yourself a little better?" she finally snapped. "As if I don't have enough to deal with."

He took a breath and stared at her blankly, brow arching in irritation. “I’m terribly sorry I’m an inconvenience. I’ll consult you next time I get an amputation, I promise.”

[Rowena Jones]

What, god damnit, what?!” He exclaimed, pushing the backpack away and coming around the corner of the bed to face her. “You’ve been so weird the last few days, just tell me what the fuck I did.”

Dear Merlin, where did she begin? Did she really want to open that can of worms now? When anger was filling the room, their irritation reaching boiling point. "Can you please fucking control yourself a little better?" she finally snapped. "As if I don't have enough to deal with."

He took a breath and stared at her blankly, brow arching in irritation. “I’m terribly sorry I’m an inconvenience. I’ll consult you next time I get an amputation, I promise.”

Rowena scoffed. "Oh don't," she said eyes narrowing. "Don't pretend you ever think about consulting me before doing anything! You make decisions all the time without thinking about how it can affect me. What did you do? You conveniently didn't tell me you got engaged to a woman who controlled your mind!"

[Max Kameren]

Rowena scoffed. "Oh don't," she said eyes narrowing. "Don't pretend you ever think about consulting me before doing anything! You make decisions all the time without thinking about how it can affect me. What did you do? You conveniently didn't tell me you got engaged to a woman who controlled your mind!"

Max rolled his head back on his shoulders in exasperation, throwing his hands in the air. How did she even know about that?! Who told Rowena, of all people?

“Why would I tell you that this early?! Did it not occur to you that possibly the mind control came before the engagement?!” Why would Max tell the woman he just started dating about the last woman he dated, who learned how to use her aura to manipulate him into doing whatever she wanted? Why would he want to share that vulnerability with anyone, especially the one person most likely to take advantage? It was part of why he needed to take it slow, even when he didn’t want to. “I was going to tell you, just not yet.”

[Rowena Jones]

"You'd tell me so that I wouldn't do it! You know what's a shitty feeling Max? Hearing someone tell you that they love you and all you can think about is how they've also just shared the interesting fact that their emotions can be controlled!"

She glared at her boyfriend, unable to hide the mixture of hurt and anger she'd been hiding the past few days. "Now, all I can think about is did I make you feel that way? Did I 'control' you? Manipulate you? Maybe I did. I don't know! I don't know how you feel, how I feel. I don't know what's real. All because you didn't trust me! Because YOU decided for us both. You took away my choice because YOU decided it was for the best. Just like you did with my mum!"

[Max Kameren]

“I was going to tell you, just not yet.”

"You'd tell me so that I wouldn't do it! You know what's a shitty feeling Max? Hearing someone tell you that they love you and all you can think about is how they've also just shared the interesting fact that their emotions can be controlled!"

Oh, shit. He had told her he loved her then, probably while he was numbed. He pushed that element of her argument aside for a moment to focus on the meat of it: his Empathy. “I did tell you! I told you we needed to take it slow. I told you I have issues in relationships! This is why!” He gestured between them frantically with his bad hand. She had to understand: he needed to protect himself, for both their sakes.

"Now, all I can think about is did I make you feel that way? Did I 'control' you? Manipulate you? Maybe I did. I don't know! I don't know how you feel, how I feel. I don't know what's real. All because you didn't trust me!”

He did trust her. He did love her, but it was a strange confusing kind of love born from his Empathy and their shared trauma mixed with the thrilling uncertainty of their relationship. He loved her, he knew he couldn’t live without her, but he didn’t know if he could live with her either. They kept secrets and butted heads, but when they stopped antagonizing they became each other’s place of comfort. Max never knew where he stood, and when he already doubted himself in relationships it left him without a rudder. He opened his mouth to interrupt, but Rowena barreled forward.

“Because YOU decided for us both. You took away my choice because YOU decided it was for the best. Just like you did with my mum!"

“Oh for fuck’s sake – I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me! There’s a fucking decision you made!” Max’s voice rose with the flare of their mutual hurt and anger, their auras swirling together in his mind and casting a shadow over the apartment. Rowena’s mum would have agreed with him, he’d rationalized since the night of the earthquake. All the pain she was going through now – it was worth it, because she was still here alive to scream at him.

“I couldn’t sit by and watch you die! You were content to lie to me about that until it was almost too late!" He glared at her as a pang of hurt sounded through his aura like a bell toll; even if she didn't fully understand what was happening, she'd wasted away under a glamour rather than ask him for help. If she would keep something like that from him, where was their trust?

[Rowena Jones]

“I did tell you! I told you we needed to take it slow. I told you I have issues in relationships! This is why!” Max gestured between them frantically with his bad hand but Rowena was too angry to let him have that point. 

"Issues Max?! That isn't an issue. That's a bloody time bomb! I have issues in relationships. Normal crap like not being on the same page as to where your relationship is heading or communication problems. This," she struggled to find the right word, "thing you have... it affects both of us. Your Empathy is such a huge part of you that it affects everyone around you whether you want it to or not. And I accepted that it would maybe make things harder sometimes, but that it can control so much?!" Rowena shook her head, unable to look at Max as the full connotations of what she'd learned hit her. "Now, all I can think about is did I make you feel that way? Did I 'control' you? Manipulate you? Maybe I did. I don't know! I don't know how you feel, how I feel. I don't know what's real. All because you didn't trust me!”

Trust was such an important part of any relationship and Rowena really didn't know where they stood with it in theirs. It was a strange feeling, knowing that you'd trust someone with your life and yet having such uncertainty in everything else. It was a feeling of no control and Rowena hated it. She'd told Max right from the start that she liked to feel in control, but had said she'd try and  relax for the sake of making them work. That had been back when she'd thought he'd opened up to her like she had with him. Right now though, she was just pissed off with feeling like he had decided what she deserved to know and she barreled on without thinking about what she was saying. 

“Because YOU decided for us both. You took away my choice because YOU decided it was for the best. Just like you did with my mum!"

“Oh for fuck’s sake – I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me! There’s a fucking decision you made!”

"I didn't know! I had that decision taken from me too! That's all that seems to fucking happen to me these days. I'm just a fucking puppet dancing on other people's strings destroying everything around me!" she yelled, her anger at the mess her life had become escaping in her frustration against Max. Very little of that was his fault, but she'd thought that maybe at least she had some free will in her relationship, but now she was questioning it all. Just what could Max's powers do, how much could they influence? Would she ever feel sure of the feelings between them knowing what she did now? 

He'd said he loved her. It should have been a moment of joy, a good thing. But her reaction hadn't been happiness. It had been wariness. Doubt. Did he really? Or did he just think he did? And how did she feel about him? There were moments when she could feel her heart flutter wildly in her chest, where she would do anything to make him happy, moments where she knew she could easily fall in love with him too. When they were together and things were good, they were amazing. But in moments like this, she felt everything fly into question. It was so volatile between them, had been from the start, that she wondered if the emotions between them just ran too high, burned too brightly and quickly. 

“I couldn’t sit by and watch you die! You were content to lie to me about that until it was almost too late!" 

"I didn't lie!" Rowena protested angrily, "I just didn't tell you! You said we should take it slow! So I didn't think I needed to tell you that I was a bit sicker than I thought. I thought it would pass. I didn't know what was happening Max either! It progressed so quickly and so much else happened, when exactly was I supposed to tell you? You had enough to deal with. So sorry that I was trying to be considerate in the circumstances," she finished sarcastically.

Damnit! Hadn't she already apologised for this? And how had he turned this on her?! He was the problem here, not her. Her anger spiked at his attempts to wrestle control of even this from her hands and tears appeared in her eyes as her rage mixed with despair. "But yes Max. You could have. You should have. Then my mum would still be here today. You had no right to interfere. You and your stupid rash thoughtless actions. I told you don't just cut into Runes but noooo, Max Kameren knows best! You can't just leave well alone and now I have nothing left. Nothing!" She angrily brushed away the tears that fell on her cheeks, not wanting to appear weak.

[Max Kameren]

"Issues Max?! That isn't an issue. […] This, thing you have... it affects both of us. Your Empathy is such a huge part of you that it affects everyone around you whether you want it to or not. And I accepted that it would maybe make things harder sometimes, but that it can control so much?!"

Max felt a crack in his chest that was somehow worse than the one he’d sustained a week ago. He’d told her this, he told her about all of this. He told her his Empathy was a burden, that they would have to be careful, that he could be easily swept away. He told her his mind didn’t feel like his own. He’d told her all these things, everything he hated most about himself, and she’d packed them up and thrown them back in his face. He sighed and looked down to hide the pain in his eyes, the fire for their fight leaving him like a candle blown out.

"Now, all I can think about is did I make you feel that way? Did I 'control' you? Manipulate you? Maybe I did. I don't know! I don't know how you feel, how I feel. I don't know what's real. All because you didn't trust me!”

His head rose to meet her accusations with aggravation. “Oh for fuck’s sake – I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me! There’s a fucking decision you made!”

"I didn't know! I had that decision taken from me too! That's all that seems to fucking happen to me these days. I'm just a fucking puppet dancing on other people's strings destroying everything around me!"

“I couldn’t sit by and watch you die! You were content to lie to me about that until it was almost too late!"

"I didn't lie!" Rowena protested angrily, "I just didn't tell you! You said we should take it slow! So I didn't think I needed to tell you that I was a bit sicker than I thought. I thought it would pass. […] You had enough to deal with. So sorry that I was trying to be considerate in the circumstances."

Max rolled his eyes at her explanation. “That’s not the same and you know it. There’s being considerate and being reckless with your life. You should have told me, damnit you’re a healer! You should have known you don’t just drop two stone in a week! By the time you let me see something was wrong it was too late to do anything else!”

"But yes Max. You could have. You should have. Then my mum would still be here today. You had no right to interfere. You and your stupid rash thoughtless actions. I told you don't just cut into Runes but noooo, Max Kameren knows best! You can't just leave well alone and now I have nothing left. Nothing!"

His shoulders slumped and Max hung his head, slowly lifting it to meet her eyes. She still had him, though evidently it was unclear if she wanted him at the moment. This was how he knew he really loved her: even now, with all their pain and fighting, he could feel that thread tethering his aura to hers. He was hurt and angry and sad, but he loved her. Idiot.

“I…” He sighed, preemptively brushing away a tear about to drop from his eye, “I don’t know what you want me to say.” He wouldn’t apologize for saving her life. He couldn’t.

[Rowena Jones]

His shoulders slumped and Max hung his head, slowly lifting it to meet her eyes. “I…” He sighed, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Rowena growled and she took a deep breath, shaking her head at his response, already feeling her anger deflate. "No. Don't you fucking dare do that Max. That's not fair." He looked like this, like she'd hurt him so badly, like she'd beaten him into submission and she felt herself fold. Damnit, she was not finished! What did she want him to say? That he'd been wrong? Sorry? 

She bit her lip and turned away from him, folding her arms in search of comfort in the absence of his embrace. Her anger was still there, embers burning brightly, calmed from the wildlife of moments ago, but ready to flare up if provoked. Rowena wanted control of her life back. She wanted an acknowledgment that he'd taken that from her. She knew more about who was attacking them, at least she knew who had attacked Max which was more than she'd known before, but until she could get to them, she had Max. And even if he hadn't meant to, even if he'd done what he thought was best, he'd still taken choice away from her. 

She may not have remembered it until that last moment, but she had chosen to give her life for her mum's. It had been her choice. Hers. And Max had stepped in and taken that from her and now she was alive and her mum was dead. And she didn't deserve it. Not after everything that had happened. The past month had brought so much death and hurt and she had been at the centre of it. If she had gone, it might have ended. Her loved ones could have been safe. Max certainly wouldn't be missing a finger right now... 

That was the core of her rage. That he'd made decisions for her in other things too was just the fuel.

"Is there anything else I should know?" she asked quietly, strengthening the walls around her heart. It was an echo of a question she'd asked not too long ago. A carefree afternoon in the Park. Strange how quickly things changed. 

[Max Kameren]

"No. Don't you fucking dare do that Max. That's not fair."

Max shrugged; there wasn’t anything he could do in this conversation. There was no winning, there was no putting it off. Rowena had all the answers, apparently. Max was a monster, who murdered her mother in cold blood. Everything terrible in their relationship had been a result of him being too controlling, or not controlling enough, or not controlling himself. Instead he responded with silence; he didn’t want to fight anymore.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

He was glad he’d slashed those runes. He’d do it again and endure everything: Rowena’s mum’s death, his torture, losing his finger and part of his ear, and everything else because it brought them right here. Together. Fighting, true, but alive and here. He shrugged again, meeting her eyes steadily.

“I love you.”

[Rowena Jones]

“I love you.”

Rowena amber gaze met Max's green defiantly. "I don't believe you." Didn't believe he loved her? Didn't believe he'd say that after everything else they'd argued about? She didn't know exactly which one she meant and really what did it matter? After everything else that had happened, she couldn't believe it had been this that had caused such a huge crack to form between them. They'd survived everything else but fallen at the hurdle that was leaving Mungos.

And suddenly her rage picked right back up again. How dare he try and use love to diffuse the situation. As if this was a good time to say such important words. The first time she'd heard it from his lips, he'd been high, the second was during a fight. Just fantastic. What a fantastic way to ruin what should have been a nice special moment. Well fuck him. No more. Max Kameren was not going to twist her into submission with sweet words. "You're home now. Eden can help you right?" She didn't wait for a response. If he wanted to do things his way then she'd leave him to it.

Was there a tiny bit of her that hated herself for leaving her injured boyfriend alone? Yes. She was angry at the man but she didn't hate him. Was that tiny part drowned out by the slamming of the doors as she stormed out of his apartment. Absolutely. It took her several minutes of storming out of the building and into the streets of Muggle London, before her anger cooled just enough that she remembered she could just apparate home. Fucking Max Kameren, she seethed as she returned to her house with a sharp Pop!.

[Max Kameren]

“I love you.”

“I don’t believe you.” What Max had tried to reach out as a form of peace and surrender Rowena turned down sharply. He sighed and bowed his head, ceding defeat as he felt her temper flair. Max had tried to be careful, to take it slow and not be overbearing or commit too quickly with his empathy. He’d tried to help, to keep Rowena safe throughout the trials they endured.

He’d failed. Spectacularly, somehow even more than he’d done before. It wasn’t their attackers, it wasn’t his Empathy. It was him.

"You're home now. Eden can help you right?"

“Ro, please. Can we – “ She didn’t wait for a response, turning and storming out of his apartment with a heavy SLAM! of the door. Max took a shaky breath and closed his eyes, feeling her furious aura fade as she moved ever further from him and disappeared.