H A R R Y

I was 26 today.

It's been three years already yet I still wasn't fully used to having a birthday and aging.

My life had always been on pause, forever stuck at 23.

Until her.

I had given up many things in my life to protect Malu but what she sacraficed for me was something I could never return no matter how badly I wanted to.

She had made an antidote for me that day that both cured and rid the deadly toxins from my body along with returning me back into a mortal with a normal immune system and a normal ageing process.

Malu had saved my life and started it again all at once.

I just wish I could've done the same for her.

Spencer said she's dead.

That she is no longer the Malu we loved.

But I'd never give up on her, and although she was different, she was still my Malu.

She was still my everything even if I was no longer hers.

And most importantly, she was still the mother of my child.

"See, so it's like a sandwich." I yawned, trying to show some sort of enthusiasm on my usual straight face as I placed the torn top of the cupcake down to the bottom part while rubbing the sleep from my eyes, my little princesa Dot cooing in awe, her big brown eyes the exact replica of her mother's aside from the slight green to it from my own genes.

"Wowwww...." My daughter trailed off in awe, pouting her rosey, full lips together with wide eyes, taking the cupcake off the table and biting into it, burying her round face into the sweet.

"You get the right amount of icing with every bite." I informed her, hearing Malu's soft, kind hearted voice in my head echoing the same words from my memories.

"Woooowwwwww...." She continued with a mouthful of cake and icing as I leaned back against the couch, watching her with an amused smile and chuckling as she licked the icing
off her pudgy fingers.

"Dot, I thought that was daddy's birthday cupcake." I teased with a monotone voice, nudging her on the ground lightly with my sock covered foot as she paused, blinking at me with wide eyes before looking back down at the half eaten cupcake in realization.

"Oh." She said with full cheeks, putting the cupcake back onto the table before she lowered her head, gagging and regurgitating back the mushed, unrecognizable, chunks of cake as I watched my daughter with a disgusted look on my face, scrunching my nose with furrowed brows when she finished, wiping the icing from her lips and pushing the just eaten cupcake to me across the table.

"I fixed it." My three year old claimed.

"So smart." I praised with a chuckle, bringing my arms out for her, gesturing her to come sit on my lap as she followed, bouncing on top of me before settling and resting her mess of wavy, curly ponytailed hair against my bare tattooed chest as I hugged her to me.

Her soft hair tickled my face but I closed my eyes and enjoyed her baby-like scent, knowing she was now a toddler but still remembering the first time I held her small body as a newborn.

Malu didn't want to hold her.

She felt that there was no need for our child to imprint on her and feel the touch of a mother when she emotionally couldn't be one.

She refused to breast feed Dot as well, instead pumping the milk from her chest with a machine and letting her drink it from a bottle instead the minute she was out as I cradled her in my arms.

"Do you miss mommy?" Dot's small voice suddenly asked, as if reading my thoughts as I slowly opened my eyes, staring at nothing in particular in front of me while I held my daughter closer.

"We see mommy everyday." I reminded her, remembering the day I finally convinced Malu to stay and live with us despite her objections.

Despite the fact that she only came back home in the middle of the night from work only to leave to go back to the facility before the sun even rose.

Despite the fact that she no longer smiled or hugged neither me or her own daughter.

Despite the fact that she calls me a roommate, and that even though we slept in the same room, it was her choice to sleep in different beds because the contact was unnecessary.

I still waited for her to come home, I'd wait in bed until midnight and only sleep when she was in her own bed as well.

I would wake up at four in the morning just to watch her get ready to leave.

Yes.

Yes I missed Malu very much.

"No, I don't miss her that much." I lied, answering Dot's question as she looked up at me, fluttering her long lashes just like her mother used to do making me grin.

"Everytime I see you I see mommy." I told her truthfully with a small, genuine, dimpled smile, poking her button nose causing her to scrunch it up playfully, crossing her eyes and making a face making me laugh as she giggled at my reaction.

She was just like her mother in every damn way.

Loving, kind, always with a smile on her face.

"Can you tell me the story about mommy again?" Dot asked, raising herself up so her small hands framed my face as she tilted her head in a curious manner.

"Tell me about how mommy was before please." She requested, making me sigh in content knowing it was one of her favorite pass times to sit by my side and listen of past Malu.

"Well," I said, running a hand through my air, not knowing where I should start this time before Dot quickly scrambled off of me.

"Wait!" She said, quickly running off, her small feet padding out of the room before she came back, dragging a sleeping Fluffy in her arms before struggling and crawling back on top of me, hugging the naked, ugly old cat to her.

Always hated that stupid gatto.

"Okay, go." She smiled, laying across my lap as I absentmindedly played with one of the small, baby pink bows on one of her ponytails.

"Where to start..." I pondered, making a show of rubbing my chin as Dot watched me with an eager expression.

"Start with the 'I like to think' part!" She quickly requested, sitting herself up to bounce on my lap with excitment as I leaned back against the cushions.

"You seem like you know it, why don't you tell me about your mommy." I proposed, grazing my knuckles gently over her soft cheeks as her smile widened with joy.

"Okay! Mommy was the nicest, sweetest person ever. She baked, she smiled, and she was always happy. She was so happy that one day she decided to save all the happiness for me. So she saved it all up and put all her emotions and happiness in me!" Dot exclaimed, remembering what I had explained to her when she asked why her mom was so distant from her.

Fluffy's ear twitched, opening one eye to glare at how loud Dot was being as he attempted to sleep.

"Exactly." I nodded, kissing her forehead and drawing back, only to pause when I noticed the small frown forming over her face as she blinked at her hands in thought.

"I want, I want to give mommy's emotions back." She suddenly said in a sad whisper, big brown eyes meeting mine as she frowned, looking about ready to cry.

"I want to see how mommy was when you first met her. I want her to be happy." Dot's lip quivered and she hugged Fluffy tighter, tight enough that the cat's eyes open and bugged out slightly before hissing and flailing around, clawing at the couch trying to escape the three year old's clutches.

I opened my mouth, not knowing what to say but knowing something needed to be said before there was a knock at the door.

Both Dot and I turned our heads to the white front door.

"Be right back Princesa." I reassured her, lifting her off my lap as she nodded, hugging and burying her face into the cat's back, flopping down onto her side as I walked over to the front, not bothering to put a shirt on.

I opened it with an irritated expression, not wanting be bothered, especially on my fucking birthday before my heart completely skipped a beat at the beauty in front of me.

Malu stood there with a blank expression, hands behind her back as I blinked at her with wide eyes.

"Malu." I breathed, shocked to find her standing there.

It had been years since I'd seen Malu during the day, and no words could bring any justice to how beautiful her tan skin glowed under the warm sun that brightened her brown hair.

"Mommy? Mommy's here?" Dot's small voice echoed somewhere in the back, making me blink back to reality before our daughter ran to Malu with open arms.

"Mommy you're here! You're here during the day! I missed you!" Dot squealed with utter delight, hugging her mother's legs tightly as Malu blinked down at her, keeping her arms hovering above the small child.

"Yes, I am here." Malu responded in a curt, monotone voice before gazing up at me so our eyes would lock.

"I have quit the facility." She informed with a passive expression, making me back away to give her space when she walked into the house, Dot happily dancing around her mother singing a song she had made up on the spot about her mommy being home.

"You quit? Why?" I couldn't help but question, closing the door behind us as she kept her piercing gaze on me.

"The problems and challenges I recieved from them no longer interested me. They also cannot harm any of us any longer due to a contract I had tricked the board into signing. We are safe." She said as I took a step and neared her small frame.

"You came back to stay with us?" I couldn't even hide the pathetic hope and desperation that was in my voice and in my green eyes as she looked up at me.

"No." She retorted, making my gaze flicker down to Dot who was too busy smiling and hugging her mom's legs to hear her answer.

"Dot," I said, catching her attention as she let out a small happy "hm" and looked up at me.

"Go get a tea party ready for mommy's arrival yeah?" I nodded my head at the hallway, making her whole face light up at the idea as she nodded her head.

"Okay!" She beamed, releasing Malu and running into the hall, tripping and falling to the wood floor with a loud splat only to quickly get back up again like nothing happened as she giggled with excitement, disappearing around the corner.

Malu and I turned our heads to look at each other once again.

"I came here to study the only thing that still manages to stump me- mmph-"

I silenced the rest of Malu's words when I grabbed her face and pressed my lips against hers because it just couldn't be helped.

I kept my mouth close and as did she as her arms were limp at her sides, her eyes probably open while mine were closed but I just needed to kiss her.

Her lips were warm but unmoving underneath mine before I pulled back, already light headed just from the contact, my large tattooed hands still framed her cheeks as I looked at her face.

If this was like the movies, Malu would be back to herself.

Whatever trance she was in, she would be cured and back to normal with one kiss on the lips.

She would feel the passion, the love fuel inside of her and we would live together in happiness.

This however, was not the case.

Malu stared at me with a blank look in her eyes as I pulled away.

"I do not understand why you insist on making contact such as that. You already know that I have no emotions, therefore I cannot reciprocate your feelings. In doing this, you are only hurting yourself." She uttered, giving me a look as my breathing slowed and I studied her, knowing she was conpletely right.

Yet completely wrong at the same time.

"Sometimes, it's worth it." I merely shrugged, brushing it off even though deep down I was ecstatic to just have her with us again.

"As I was saying," She continued with a straight face.

"I came here to study you and Dot. I want to learn more." She quipped, making me raise a pierced brow at her.

"Learn more about what?" I asked, wondering what on Earth this woman needed to know more about when she possibly knew everything that ever existed.

Malu looked at me, her eyes locking onto mine before answering.

"Emotions."

AN: One or two chapters left idk. But there is more.