Cards On the Table [SHILOH]

With two stores to run, it was rare that Shiloh ever had much time for herself. She was always busy either working in her main store in Hogsmeade, or she was busy keeping tabs on her Diagon Alley store. And, if she was really lucky, she'd have some free time to spend with her boyfriend Fabiano.

Normally, it wouldn’t be strange for her to not have seen or spoken to him in the last few days because they were both busy between her with her own business and then him with his Quidditch career and gym. However, these last three days have been different than any other three days they may have gone without seeing one another. There had been radio silence too.

Shiloh didn’t let herself get too worked up about it though. She just assumed that Fabiano had been busy, just as she had been, and had been unable to reply to the few texts she had managed to send during her busy days. She would have just chalked it up to them being busy, but the way he stood on her doorstep when she opened her door to him screamed that something else was at work.

"Fabiano?" she said when her eyes swept over his nervous state. "Are you okay?" she asked as she stood to the side and gestured for him to come into her home. "Come in, please," she said. She didn’t want him to stand at her door the whole time. Plus, she was sure he needed to feel a bit more comfortable with how out of it he looked.

It was clear before he even answered her question that he was not okay. His entire demeanor was that of a dejected soul, someone troubled by something huge. And, as it would turn out, that something huge would be something she did not like. She found herself interested in learning what it was he had to say, but, also, not really. She gave him an assuring look and a nod, letting him know she was okay with him continuing, and she braced herself for the worst.

As Fabiano told her his tale, she found herself getting sick. While she knew she could not be angry with anything that he had done before they were together, it still stung a little. And then he spoke of Midori's pregnancy and Shiloh's eyes widened. She had seen Midori when she was pregnant and asked about the father. The other witch never told her anything, not that she owed her a response. But, still.

While he had yet to say it, she had a bad feeling she knew where this was going. And that's when Fabiano told her that it was only when he went to visit Midori in the hospital while he was already there for his broken arm that she asked if he wanted to hold his son. Her eyes were as wide as galleons now and she felt as if her heart had stopped beating entirely. The gravity of what he was saying was making her feel as if she was being pushed down into the ground with no way out.

He looked up at her then, his eyes filled with unshed tears as he waited for her to say something. The trouble is, she didn't know what to say. Was he telling her because he wanted her to get angry and break up with him so he could go back to Midori and be happy with their son? Or was he telling her because he wanted her to fight for their relationship and say that she didn't care that he had a kid with his ex?

Shiloh closed her eyes for a moment, letting this newfound information sink in before she said anything. This was a lot to process and she knew it would take some time getting used to. However, she knew she needed to say something now. She took a deep breath then, her eyes opening and fixating on Fabiano's. "And how does this all make you feel?" she asked him.

She cringed at how clinical her question made her seem, but she needed to know what he was thinking about this situation before she said anything about how she was feeling on the matter. It made the most sense to her, too.

Did he want Midori back? Did he just want to be a co-parent with no romantic ties to the mother of his son? Did he not want anything to do with his son? So many questions she needed to know his thoughts on. "I mean, what do you want to do about this? It's your son and ex, after all," she told him. She would not make this decision for him. But, he could make the decision for her.