I awoke to the sound of an alarm being snoozed. The whack of Li's hand on my annoying cow clock had been louder than the moo-ing coming from it.
10am.
I'm not a morning person. I'd much rather stay up all night and sleep all day. Still, 10 isn't too early, so I can normally still crawl out of bed. Unlike the 6 o'clock beeper that Lee calls an alarm. 6am should only be seen if you haven't gone to sleep yet. A motto I live my life by. So why was it him rolling over and groaning? Had he slept at all last night?
I didn't remember anything after the void swallowed me whole. I'd been expecting him to go back to his own bed, but he hadn't. He'd stayed with me. I wonder why?
It was comforting either way. To wake up next to a warm body and a slow heart beat, an arm slung over you... it's just bliss sometimes.
I owed him.
After taking a few minutes to enjoy being cuddled by a sleeping giant, I slipped out of the covers silently. Still fully dressed - hmm, deja vous... I smiled to myself and padded over to the door. A glance back before I eased into the hallway told me I hadn't lost my touch of sneaking out of bed.
Possessive boyfriends will teach you all kinds of fun tricks. I could get fully dressed, in the dark, and leave a house without waking a soul. Part of me is sure that talent will come in handy some day!
Downstairs was still vaguely tidy. We weren't very messy people in all honesty, so it didn't take much to clean up after us... unless we held a party. Our parties were infamous... and messy. The jelly wrestling had been my idea, granted... but I hadn't expected it to end up everywhere! That was months ago now though. It had taken us nearly that long to get it out of the carpets. I smiled at the memory.
The kettle on and some toast in I tried to piece together what had been said last night. How much could I back track on? How much should I cover back up?
I stretched to take my mind off it.
Stretching hurt.
Oh yeah... bruises... fun... I'd forgotten about the bruises on my torso from being pounced on. The burn and the blood had taken up most of my concentration. I'd forgotten that the bruises would start coming out from the rest of our work out.
The toast popped and I spread it with butter and jam. That and a cup of tea ought to revive senior sleepy while I got changed.
He was still sprawled across the bed when I entered the room. I paused and smiled. He looked like those little kids you see on TV that fall asleep in weird positions. I half wished I didn't have to wake him - but he probably had a shift to get to.
I'd tried to get him to skip work once. He just looked at me like I was insane. He took helping people very seriously.
I plonked the toast down on my bedside table and sat cross-legged on the bit of bed not taken up by a spare limb. The mug of cooled tea rested on my knee with a hand to steady it, I pushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Wakey wakey sleepy head." I said gently.
His face scrunched up for a moment, but relaxed again after a beat and his eyes opened groggily.
"Tea?" I asked, briefly raising the mug off my knee.
He made a noise somewhere between a groan and a grunt, and rolled onto his back, a forearm protecting his eyes from the dull light seeping through my curtains. His eyes were closed again, but I'd woken him up before. (Shocking as that sounds, I do - on occasion - wake up before him. Normally when we end up passed out on a bed together fully clothed, funny that.) I knew that he was waking himself up and didn't need any more prodding. In fact, more prodding would probably send him to sleep.
I needed to go and check all of our defensive spells really. Dan had said to check them every morning and every night. I'd really rather have gotten back into bed with Lee though. It wasn't often we snuggled up and fell asleep like that anymore. The temptation to put the tea on the bedside table too and just lay on his chest was broken only when he sighed heavily and sat up.
Well, there goes my morning in bed.
His face was screwed up again, as if he couldn't decide whether he could see or not. Thinking about it, he probably couldn't see very well without his glasses.
A slight shake of the head and he reached for the tea
"Thanks." he smiled.
His hair stuck up in all directions, making me grin. He eyed me, knowing that me smiling in the morning probably meant trouble for him. I managed to tone it down to ease his suspicions as he sipped at the tea.
He closed his eyes and smiled as it went down. I make a good cup of tea. It's the only thing that makes me seem british at times.
I handed the toast over and he turned the full power of his smile on me. It always makes me smile and go shy.
While he munched away I slid off the bed and went to get changed. Nothing like sleeping in clothes to make you want to get changed. I'd get a shower after I'd checked all the spells.
"You got work today?" I asked as I shoved my trainers on.
He finished off his tea and shook his head
We traded looks, nodding and rolling our eyes in unison.
This was why Lee was always in work. No matter when he got time off, he always got a phone call asking him to cover a shift. Hell, there were plenty of times he did 22 hour shifts because he got pulled onto a night shift after a day one.
I refrained from telling him again that he worked too hard.
"What are your plans for the day?" he asked me. We had this conversation pretty much every morning. I had replied "not much" for the past few months. Today I glanced at his face. There was something there that said 'please tell me... unless you really don't trust me enough...' I looked back at my feet as I re-tied laces that I would normally leave the hell alone.
"Well..." I glanced at him quickly again "..not much..." he didn't move, hoping there was more. Damn it all - I was sick of this game.
"I mean, gotta check on the spells me and Dan set up last night... then call and see how Kali got on last night with Bree. Probably end up down theirs again going through some basic training and stuff. Hopefully no attacks today..."
It had just slipped out. All of it had. Lee didn't even know the people I was talking about. God I had a lot of explaining to do.
He ran a hand across his forehead. I had to admit it sounded like something out of a bad novel. He knew me though, and if he hadn't run last night, he would believe me now. That look of disgust hadn't arrived yet either. Maybe it wouldn't after his suspicions of human sacrifices. Nothing I could say was that bad yet.
I sat up on the edge of the bed, wincing as the bruises moved and settled again. Maybe some more stretching would help. Later.
I didn't look at him, as if he needed privacy to deal with the information I'd just given him.
"You're serious, aren't you?" He asked, sounding defeated.
I nodded. His breath came out in a long 'whooosh' behind me, like a 'phew' only not relieved. He was either going to leave, find somewhere safer to live, or lock me up in the psyche ward. I just knew it. My head bowed forwards, guilt and disappointment in my own inability to keep my mouth shut filled me.
"Mind if I..." he hesitated, then started again. "Can I come with you today? I mean... could you show me the spells and stuff?"
There was something like excitement and wariness in his voice. Magic had always been something we shared.
I turned to him and smiled. The one thing that had been missing in all these adventures, all this magic, had been Lee. I still didn't want him getting mixed up in the Ley Line wars, but I'd been dying to share this with him. Just showing him the things we'd set up in the house wouldn't put him in any danger...
"Okay."
His smile bloomed again, and I felt mine grow to match his.
This was such a bad idea...
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