For Karrin

[dresdenforhire]

There's a saying- when the going gets tough the tough get going to the little blonde woman with the cute nose and is even tougher. Not many people say that but it's definitely a saying I use. Well, I don't exactly say it out loud but I definitely think it. I think about Karrin Murphy for a lot of reasons but one of them is definitely help with the tough things. She may not pack a magical wallop but she doesn't need to. Plus she's not afraid to call me on being a dumb ass and that's a very important trait I look for when things are tough. Plus I can fit more gear in the Blue Beetle if she's the other person riding with me.

So that's why I was pulling up outside of her house unannounced late Friday afternoon. I needed help at the last minute for a rather unpleasant job and I knew Karrin Murphy well enough that I knew if she had to she'd cancel plans to help me. Not as any huge favor for me most likely but because she knew I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important.

Unfolding myself out of the car I made my way up to her front door. I could feel the energy around the place, the magical barrier that all homes had. Of course hers was stronger than most, her grandmother having lived her and it being truly a home.

I stopped short of the door and used my staff to knock. I wasn't sure what types of electronics she might have on her or near the door since I was showing up without warning and I didn't want to fry anything important. I at least try to be courteous about that, especially if I'm going to be asking someone for help.

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[dresdenforhire]

"It would be my pleasure," I reassured her. I liked this arrangement- I still got to tease her and in return she would do wonderfully bad things to me. It was interesting how well suited we were to each other in several aspects and how easily I felt like I was falling into being "with" her. I guess being close friends for so long who danced around this sort of thing made it easier once I finally got my ass in gear and talked to her about it.

"Just wait until I take you dancing and literally sweep you off your feet," I said, turning off the trail a bit to a site I knew we could set up camp. It also had the advantage of being a ways away from where anyone else might be and it sounded like we might be making a little bit of noise. Other than being remote the clearing we came into was nice. The river wasn't too far away and the trees circled around just enough that we had a clear view of the sky that would be perfect for star gazing.

"Also, important question... which side of the bed do you prefer?"

[murph]

He had her almost stumbling, unusual for the normally graceful woman. "You dance?"

Seriously, she was staring at him agape. "Like not Jan Brady style, but actual dancing? How did I never know this?" She squinted a bit trying to decide if he was fucking with her about it. But the idea did amuse and intrigue her.

They followed the offshoot from the main path to what was a nice little area actually. It was far nicer than she had expected for some reason. A clearing raised enough to not collect water if it rained. A soft burbling sound told her there was a river not far away and there was plenty of wood for a fire, no need to worry about needing matches at least.

"...wow." Karrin tipped her head back and looked up at the sky, they were far enough out of Chicago proper that light and sound pollution were non-existent and the clear cloudless evening was already promising a hell of a showing of stars.

"Huh? Oh, usually the right because it's closer to where I keep my gun. But I'll take whatever side faces the door so we have a line of defense if needed." Leave it to the five-foot nothing woman to decide to be the first line of defense.

[dresdenforhire]

"I was a ballroom dance instructor for a while," I said, looking both haughty and offended. Sure it was at a senior center but that doesn't change the fact that the title is accurate and I did know how to dance. Besides, some of those seniors could really cut a rug. Seeing her surprised by it was still satisfying though. Good to know that I still had a few surprises for her.

"I know I don't take you to a lot of nice places so... hopefully this makes up for some of that," I said. I knew that she wasn't with me because I might take her to Hawaii but I didn't want it to be all Walmarts, homicide scenes, and Wild Hunts. "Plus I like this spot and... and I've never taken anyone else here but I wanted to share it with you. Also, literal magic wielding wizard here who is capable of providing a line of defense and offense and picket fence."

[murph]

Ok, she was impressed and surprised. He was a dance instructor, must be the wizard gig needed some backup income at some point. It was possibly the least likely side job she could imagine him having, but now it was an image she wasn't going to be able to shake.

"Harry," She looked away from the stars but still up, to him. "I'm not with you because I expect exotic locations or pricey dinners. I'm with you because I care about you, Harry. A lot. Maybe a whole lot." Maybe even words she wasn't ready to say out loud just yet.

"This is special, it'll be special for us." She agreed and snickered at the rest of his statement. "Well, I guess we can take turns then."

[dresdenforhire]

“Trust me, I wouldn’t have let us be together if you were in it for pricey dinners and fancy locations,” I said. Not that those things might not happen, my life was strange enough that anything was possible but it wasn’t going to be the norm, not by a long shot.

“And I like you a whole lot too,” I admitted. Actually, I was pretty sure that it was more than that but I didn’t think either of us were quite ready to throw that word around just yet. I definitely hadn’t felt this way about someone in a long time, not since Elaine really and it was hard to really compare the feelings of a teenager to a grown-ass adult, even a grown-ass adult as immature as me.

“And you’re right, you should probably be closest to the door. Easier for me to cast magic around you that it is for you to shoot around me,” I said. Was the entire point of my protest because I wanted to be acknowledged as a legitimate bad ass? Maybe. “Plus it sounds like I might be a little... tied up at times.”

[murph]

"I didn't exactly know to pack that sort of thing, so I'll have to work with what I have." She didn't seem too put out by that though, Karrin Murphy was nothing if not creative in a pinch.

"When do we need to go speak to this friend of yours? Please say not tonight because these things always have enhanced senses and they are going to smell me from a mile away." She knew what their conversation had done to her and wasn't the least be ashamed of it. But it could make things awkward depending on the personality of whatever it was they were going to see. Hopefully, it wasn't something in the satyr sort of family.

"Let's get the tent set up and gear stowed first thing. We can deal with whatever other agenda we have after that." She gave him a very meaningful look, and maybe there was still a smolder in those gray-blue eyes of hers, but in the dark, it was tricky to tell.

[dresdenforhire]

“Not until tomorrow,” I said, face flushing a bit at her comment. As much as I was enjoying her open commentary, and if she glanced below my belt she’d see how much I was enjoying it, that sort of talk outside of actually being going at it was new to me. Damn if I wasn’t living it though.

“Oh, I have an agenda,” I added as I started to unpack the tent. This was something I was familiar with and could do relatively easy on my own. I barely fit into the thing but long arms made it easy to set up by myself. Now that I had someone to help it would go even faster. “And I don’t just mean what we discussed coming up here. I, uh, I have a surprise I wanted to show you. A magical surprise. That doesn’t explode.”

I felt that it was probably necessary to clarify that last bit considering the type of magic I normally did around her.

[murph]

Karrin stepped up to help set up the tent, he didn't need to ask nor did she need directions. It was like many things with them, they simply worked together seamlessly. The tent was put up in short order, and she nodded as he spoke. They would have until tomorrow to get ready to visit his friend and that gave them plenty of time to figure other things out.

"Agenda huh? Should I be worried?" He did say it wouldn't explode, but that was just one of the many hazards with him. She'd long since learned to shut off her cell phone and pop the battery, store both in a single blocking case when she was going to be around him for extended periods. She wanted the best chance of having a working phone if she needed it. Though out this far she wasn't sure she would even get a signal.

By the time the tent was up Karrin was already working gathering firewood. So she wandered around the edges of their camp perimeter picking up fallen branches, twigs, and what she could to bring to the area that looked like it was the likely fire pit. She dropped her find and brushed her hands off. "Ok, so should we get a fire started first or does that interfere with your plans?"

[dresdenforhire]

“Let’s wait a bit on the fire,” I told her. That would be easy enough to get going when it was time but what I wanted to do first would be best done with as much darkness as possible. It was already fairly pitch black so even a bit of light from the fire would make a big difference.

“Here,” I said, sitting down on a fallen log I had dragged to the clearing years ago and patting the spot next to me. “Now keep in mind illusions aren’t really my thing but...”

I started weaving the spell, focusing on the intricacies that creating and bending light required. I was lucky that what I was doing didn’t require sound or smell at all. Grasshopper could whip that sort of thing up much better than I could but this was something I had been working on for a while. First it had just been to get better at illusions but later it became something I knew I wanted to share with Murphy. Too often she saw only the destructive parts of magic, even if it was the good guys doing it. I wanted to show her that magic could be more than that, that it could be something truly beautiful.

So after a few moments up above our heads a very good facsimile of the Northern Lights began to shimmer in the sky. The colors flickered and almost swam through the night air, an impossible rainbow sea above us.

“I give to you the Slightly More Southern, Northern Lights,” I announced, giving an exaggerated yawn and stretch that ended with my arm around her shoulder. So smooth.

[murph]

"Ok, but you brought me, you have to keep me warm." Karrine stacked the wood neatly before joining him, arms folded and hands tucked in under them. The night was dark, not city dark which always had stray light in and reflected from the sidewalks and streets. No this was deep woods dark and only her little clip-on lamp was illuminating the area.

She arched a brow when he mentioned illusions but took the second to turn off her light and indulge him in whatever it was he wanted to show her. Better not be clowns though, she would punch him in the face if it was clowns or something stupid to scare her. She'd seen him burn things down, freeze huge area and water, she'd seen his mastery over the wind cause gale forced or be delicate enough to unlatch a door. She knew he had power but illusion wasn't one she had really seen before.

She was about to tell him such when brilliant bright greens, blues, and purples appeared overhead. Waves of color so rich and vibrant that it was breathtaking. "...my god... it's beautiful." The word seemed so inadequate for the light show she was being treated to, even if by definition it wasn't real, it was still beautiful and that was enough.

She couldn't even be mad about his dumb joke and only grimaced a second until he put his arm around her. Karrin leaned into him and right then she wasn't the tough as nails cop or the scary hot dominatrix, she was just a woman soaking in the warmth and closeness of the man she cared about. Murphy looked from the lights to him, seeing the colors reflected in his dark eyes. "Thank you, Harry."

[dresdenforhire]

“I just wanted to share some of the beautiful things that magic could do,” I explained, even as I was beaming inside that she likes the display. Not a lot of people go to see the Northern Lights and while maybe some day we would get to in the meantime we’d have this moment. Let me tell you, a moment with the person you care about more than just about anything else pressed close to your side watching something as beautiful as this? That was a pretty special moment.

We continued to watch the lights in silence for a bit longer until they eventually faded. Technically I could cast the illusion anywhere but it wouldn’t be the same as out here in the wild wilderness. But if she asked nicely I’d do it again anytime she wanted.

“See? No explosion. I know you probably thought it wasn’t possible but nothing went boom!” I said, pausing for a moment before adding. “Huh, I kind of expected fate to throw in an explosion there just to mess with me.”

[murph]

"Yeah, that is kind of a shock, the no-boom thing." Karrin leaned into him, her arm going around his waist and her head resting on his shoulder. They'd never had a moment like this before where they could just enjoy being with one another and not worried about bombs or guns or magic or monsters.

He'd shown her something beautiful and she didn't have anything to offer in return except closeness.

Harry had been one of her best friends for years, she trusted him with her life and he'd done the same. It seemed like this was an inevitable outcome for them but in typical fashion, it took them time to reach it.

"So you feel like starting a fire or would you rather work on body heat?"

[dresdenforhire]

Oh, she was leaning. SHe was leaning against me and her arm was around my waist and it felt... right. Not necessarily fireworks or anything big but it felt right and comforting. It felt like... home. Hell's Bells that felt good. I could have stayed like that all night I think but she made a good point about the heat, not all of us had the Winter Mantle Cold Protection Upgrade.

And it was nice of her to ask how I wanted to warm up, I appreciated that she wasn't just assuming I was in "bang always" mode. Sometimes it felt like that but I appreciate that she asked. Not surprised at all, but appreciative. Karrin was thoughtful like that.

"If I make a joke about how hot you look plenty hot to me are you going to shoot me?" I asked, smiling down at her.

[murph]

"Make the comment and find out." She looked back at him deadpan for a moment before she smirked and moved to stack the firewood. Dry kindling on the bottom and larger logs progressively up from there. She wasn't trying to vamp him up or anything but it did afford a decent view of the feature he'd been so eagerly thinking about.

Karrin had tabled the sex discussion until they decided to bring it up again, for the moment it was all about making them both comfortable and that for her at least meant a fire. "Don't suppose you brought stuff to make s'mores?"

[dresdenforhire]

“Fuck...”

I don’t usually swear, at least not the traditional “get your mouth washed out with soap” kind of words. That one just sort of... slipped out as Karrin spent and extended amount of time bent over in front of me. Obviously I had sneaked a peak at her backside before but she seemed to be inviting full on leering right now so I helped myself to a good long gaze and it was truly every bit as remarkable as the woman it was attached to. I was getting a sense that I was in over my head more than I had thought. I wasn’t enough that I L-Worded this woman (I totally counts if you say it like that) and she was brilliant, tough, kind, and selfless but she also had an ass that she clearly knew would make me weak. I did not deserve Karrin Murphy one bit.

But, she was the one expressing bad judgement by agreeing to be with me so I had a mostly clear conscience about it. I say mostly because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t hear myself up over it a little bit.

“Hmmm?” I asked, realizing that I’d been asked a question while I was busy appreciate all of the work Karrin out into doing squats and lunges. “Oh, of course. I wasn’t raised a fool. Uh, at least not about s’mores.”

Digging through my pack I pulled out the crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. Was it fancy chocolate from Switzerland that I had called in a favor for in an attempt to impress Karrin? Maybe.

[murph]

"Ok, well the firewood is set up, now I have a lighter but I kinda think you might be able to take care of that for us, right?" She sat back on her heels and rested her hands on her thighs.

Karrin grabbed her bag and rummaged through it pulling out a small camping lantern and stood to move over to the tent. She started laying things out and getting the inside set up and leaving the fire duty to him.

She took advantage of the chance to toss a couple of heat packs in the sleeping bag so even if the temps dipped low they would be toasty warm.

[dresdenforhire]

"Phenomenal cosmic power and she asks me to do the job of a lighter," I said with an overly dramatic sigh. So maybe my power was slightly less on the "cosmic" scale and more just on the "a danger to himself as much as anyone else" side of things. But, slightly a well built campfire was something I could definitely do. I was reasonably certain that I could do it without blowing us up either.

For a brief moment I thought about lighting the fire with a big, dramatic gout of flame springing up from the middle of it before scratching that idea. The fire was only magic in how it was called, after that it was basically just normal fire and did normal fire things like burn stuff. I could save the dramatics for later.

"Flickum Bicus," I said, adding a little bit of dramatics to the spell. A small flame caught in the middle of the wood and before long a nice little fire was burning. "And my one day streak of not blowing things up continues. How goes things over there?"

[murph]

"All set for a decent night." With the tent prepped and Harry taking care of the fire for them she'd grabbed a couple of long thin branches and rejoined him on the log turned bench.

Karrin took out her knife and stripped small twigs and loose bark and then carved the end a few inches of the sticks to points. Perfect marshmallow roasting tools. She snapped the knife back and slid it into her pocket, then handed one over to him.

"Hey," She turned to look at him. "Thanks for showing me what you did earlier." She smiled and ran fingers through his hair. "Sometimes your world seems so alien and cold and dark to me. It like being on the run from the hunt or charging Arctis Tor, or some other crazy thing. It's nice to know there is beauty to it."

[dresdenforhire]

I was thinking we were going to be having an indecent night but at the moment I actually wasn’t as focused on that as maybe I thought I would be. There was something about the relative quiet of the forest and is being all alone that made me want to just enjoy the moment with Karrin. Even just the quiet as she worked was nice. It was nice to share the quiet with someone I cared about.

I pulled out a marshmallow and put it on the end of the stick and then I went sort of... limp. She had given me zero warning, one moment her fingers were not in my hair and the next they were. I could feel my neck and shoulders relax and instead of words coming out I gave a little bit of a growl sound. That felt amazing and I couldn’t help but lean into her a bit.

“Mmmhmmm,” I said, finally manage to track with what it was she was saying. “That’s what you’re like... that bit of beauty in my- damn it!”

My marshmallow was on fire. Sitting up I blew the flames out on the marshmallow, frowning at the blackened husk on the end of my stick.

[murph]

She couldn't help but laugh, who wouldn't in her shoes? He was all but melting there and then freaking out over a burned marshmallow.

"Oooh someone can't handle the heat." She snickered and grabbed a new marshmallow and traded it for the brickette he was working with. She held her own out closer to the fire and was still suffering little bubbles of humor as she turned the white puffy confection until it turned golden brown.

[dresdenforhire]

"If I had trouble with things that were hot, I wouldn't be with you," I said, full on leaning in to the cheesiness of the line. It was basically what she had dared me to say so I said it full on knowing there would likely be consequences. But what was life without a little danger? Of course maybe the guy who had been a ghost twice shouldn't really as questions like that. Mostly I was sad about the lack of head scratches.

This time I paid more attention to where I was putting my stick though, making sure it was just on the edge of the fire so that it could get a lower, more even heat. I could be patient when I absolutely, positively had to.

[murph]

"You are such a pig." She snorted at him and knocked his shoulder with hers. She'd be happy to provide more of those head scratches later but for the moment this was about them learning to be able to just be together.

She hadn't scorched her first marshmallow so she drew back one almost perfectly golden with just a little char on one side. She made her s'more and grinned like a child as she liked the melted goo off her fingers. "You know how long it's been since I went camping?" Had to be back before dad died. She almost couldn't remember. And training or emergencies didn't count.

[dresdenforhire]

I just smirked at her and bumped her shoulder back. Well if that was all she did when I made a comment like that it wasn't so bad, she called me a pig regularly for any number of things. I liked feeling her shoulder pressing against me though, it was nice to have this closeness between us without any sort of weirdness. I hadn't even realized how long we'd lived with a sort of tension regarding being physically close. I really loved not having that tension and having a sort of warmth there instead. I knew there was still a learning curve but just this little change

"I usually go a few times a year. Mostly for times like this to visit people but compared to what I'm usually doing it's basically a vacation," I said, smiling as I watched her enjoy the s'more. I loved that smile. "Do you have any favorite spots you used to go to?"

[murph]

"Mmhmm." She nodded and started to speak, which was made all the harder by her mouthful of melted marshmallow. She chewed behind her hand and swallowed, and spent another moment with her tongue ensuring that none of that bite was clinging to her teeth.

"It's not really anything formal, but a lot of the guys dad worked with liked to hunt to they had pitched in and got a hunting property. Lots of woods and one of those old stone cabins, with an outhouse." She laughed, she hadn't thought of that in years. But she could almost remember exactly how the wood floor felt on her bare feet and how quickly she learned that it was not a house.

"We mostly camped in tents, but if the weather was bad we'd pack it in and head for the cabin. But I liked the tent more. If we went in the summer sometimes we'd just sleep outside and stare at the stars." She smiled with a fond, far away nostalgia. "Until the mosquitoes showed up."

[dresdenforhire]

"Oh right, you can't cast the mosquito repellant spell," I said before giving her a grin that let her know I was kidding. I was probably going to get punched anyway but that was alright. Technically I could probably cast a mosquito repellant spell but it was easier to just wear bug spray.

"We'll have to do a real camping trip sometime," I said, taking a small bite of my s'more so that I could actually talk without waiting for five minutes after I chewed. Unlike some people. "One where it's not part of a job and just us and we can sleep out under the starts."

Because honestly? That sounded kind of perfect, just the two of us and no one else.