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Iron Dragons and Firelegs COMPLETE	By : FemmeBono Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 2353 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Cht. 10, Past and Present

Severus' moment of truth came early the
next morning, as he woke to hear a clock out in the sitting room
chime the seventh hour and groaned quietly when he realized that he
had not slept more than four hours together. He looked down at the
woman nuzzling in the crook of his arm and felt a deep throb of
yearning to keep her right in that very spot for as long as possible.
For some minutes he watched her features relaxed in sleep, one of her
legs thrown over his. She had scooted right up to his side in the
night, where she had lain the whole time. Edging over so as not to
wake her, he pressed a kiss to her brow and clenched his fists on the
sheets as he realized that he had no choice but to watch her battle
it out against some of the fiercest dark wizards in the world. He had
no doubt in his mind that she could fight—even fiercely so—yet
the desire to keep her closeted safely away surged through him as he
thought of her facing someone like Bella or even the Dark Lord
himself. It did not bear consideration. Even as the thought flitted
through his mind of apparating her back to the cabin straightaway
come the first of September, he knew that to do so would breach the
trust they had built thus far. Already he had made the mistake of
trying to protect her from harm. At the same time, he felt a tug of
pride at that fact that she greatly valued her ability to combat any
opposition in any given situation. His woman was a warrior, and more
than his match in every way. Gods above but he loved her. Already.
His mind reeled at the fact, and he was impotent with fear as to what
to do about it.

For years he had mourned the loss of
Lily from his life, only to grieve her again when she died. But none
of the emotions that wracked him at that time came anything close to
this. Lacey was his, for a start, and had given of herself more than
the other woman ever had. She placed her trust in him; when he had
made mistakes even though she railed at him, she had forgiven him.
And with the looks she had given him the night before, he felt
certain that what she gave him then was more than her body. When the
time came for them to do what must be done, he only hoped they would
come through it together. He could ill afford to lose another woman
from his life, least of all this one, who he loved more deeply and
purely than any other. Even Lily.

Carefully, he slid out of bed and as
quietly as he could, picked up the clothes that had been tossed
hither and yon the night before. Muttering the same cleansing charm
he had used on the sheets, he carried them into a large lavish bath
across the hall. He spared once small glance at himself in the mirror
before turning the taps on full blast and sliding into the hot
shower. He picked up the rosemary pine soap that he kept for the rare
occasions that he stayed in the cottage and while he lathered himself
up, he pondered how to handle this burgeoning relationship. Truly, he
mused, this would be the first real relationship of his life. Any
other liaison had been just that, a brief shelter in the storm of the
first and now second of the dark wars. He had either had no real
desire to keep any of those women in his life or they did not desire
him for so long. They all tended to be extremely short lived and
quite bitter at the end. No matter. As he thought again of the woman
currently sleeping in his bed, he knew that they had all been merely
rehearsals for the real dance. Surprised that he could wax so
poetically on such a subject, he thought briefly of his grandmother's
engagement and wedding rings secreted away in the vault behind her
vanity table. What a thing that would be for her to wake up to, he
smiled, then laughed outright at the thought of what his students
would think. If only they could see their professor now... He took
another look at himself, as he slapped off the taps and began
toweling off. Even through the steamed mirror he could see the
Chesire cat smile stretching wide. Surely now if need be he could
conjure a patronus to chase off all the dementors in Azkaban's walls.
Gone was the dark, drab professor of the dungeons. At this point, he
believed he could scarcely summon a sneer worthy of scaring even the
most squeamish first year. Some imposing force he would be now. The
woman had undone his entire facade and had him completely wrapped
around her little fingers. If he hadn't been so happy it would be
totally demoralizing.

In fact, he reasoned, more of his
mornings should begin this way. A good shag, a nice cuddle with his
warm woman, and a hot shower. Now for a quick kiss and perhaps a
coffee on the porch. As he stepped back into the room however, the
good feelings dissipated when he realized that she was having
anything but sweet dreams. She was whimpering, writhing in sweat
soaked sheets.

“Oogaf wa illa 'armiik!”
she cried out forcefully. “Lnbitih bala batnak! ”

Severus crept closer, not wanting to
frighten her further by waking her too soon. His heart wrenched at
the sight of her though. Lacey's forehead was creased in apparent
anguish as she thrashed harder. “Laa! Laa! Laa
tirmi! Dhib bi-slahaak! Hassa!” Unsure what foreign tongue
she was speaking, Severus did know that she was fighting bitterly. He
sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, just on the verge of grabbing
her up and holding her close when she abruptly started crying,
sobbing brokenly into the pillow.

“Barnes! No, Barnes come on guy.
Get up!”

Tears streaming down her face, she
curled up now fully tangled in the sheets. Completely at a loss,
Severus swept her into his arms, gripping her tightly and brushed a
kiss to her hair as she jolted awake. She looked blankly at Severus
for a moment, blinking the tears away and he continued to hold on
until she got her bearings. “He had a baby,” she
whispered, knowing Severus would understand somehow. “He had a
brand new baby at home,” she said, still gasping for breath,
and then at a total loss, she burst into fresh tears.

He held her until her tears dried, only
letting her up when she decided to slip into the shower. Lacey sighed
deeply as the water sluiced over her, only to groan again when she
spied the one lonely bar of soap on the wide marble lip of the tub.
Unable to summon the urge to castigate him for not having the proper
toiletries, Lacey simply resolved to bring her own next time—for
she was certain there would be a next time. Nightmares
notwithstanding, things were so totally comfortable between the two
of them that presently she saw no end in sight. Her own husband had
not bothered to hold her when her dreams woke her screaming. Instead
he woke her with a simple, “babe, you alright?” before
rolling over. Eventually, he started sleeping in the guest room. At
first he had wanted to talk about it in the day time. Incessantly.
Moreover, he asked the question every veteran of war hates to hear,
“how many people did you kill?” only to get riled when
she said she did not want to talk about it. He pushed therapy and she
went. He pushed medication and she tried that too for a while. A
couple of times she came home completely blitzed from drinking with
the other airmen who had just shipped back. The second time she did
it, they had a roaring fight and he walked out. Somewhere in there
was the beginning of the end. By the time they sat down at the
kitchen table where they no longer shared their meals, Lacey was
clear eyed and wholly unsurprised.

Somehow though, she simply could not
bring herself to picture Severus doing the same. For one thing, he
apparently felt no compunction to discuss anything. He seemed to know
exactly what she needed and exactly what she did not. It only
confirmed her suspicions that he knew all too well what she went
through already. In the end, there was nothing to say. In fact, with
him she felt the closest to acceptance that she ever had. She felt
less like some monster who had been to hell and back, less like
something tainted. Rich had made her feel that way. Severus simply
did not. With him she could still look at the good things in life and
appreciate them, not because she ignored or forgot what she had seen
and done, but because she remembered and could appreciate those
things all the more. He made it possible because he was on her level,
and he knew firsthand. By the time she finished her shower, she was
humming “Wild is the Wind” and smiling at the fact that
true to his nature, he had not bothered to bring or buy a toothbrush.
Typical man, she thought.

Taking the opportunity to make
breakfast while Lacey washed up, Severus busied himself making eggs
and toast, plus coffee, which about limited his breakfast making
abilities. Still, fully satisfied that the eggs were fluffy and not
brown, the toast was brown and not black, and the coffee smelled
reasonably good, Severus smiled to himself as he took out dusty
plates and cups from the cupboards, dispensing with the dust merely
by flicking his wand while his mind wandered to the very naked woman
currently just down the hall in his bath. He was not so involved with
his task however, that he missed the light tread of bare feet behind
him. He was about to turn when he felt the subject of his errant
thoughts wrap her arms around him and press her face into his back.
Apparently said woman was no longer just down the hall, he mused.

“Mmm, I take it the shower did
you good.”

“So did my wake-up, thanks for
that.”

“Quite welcome, darling. Though I
do figure we have less than an hour before we have to meet Leiutenant
Brynn and Lucius back at your base.”

“Mmm... I wonder how they're
doing this morning. Everyone was supposed to have started training
together yesterday while we were gone.”

“I suppose we'll find out, as
soon as you have parleyed with your subordinate.”

“Yes, well they're going to have
a really short go of it if Major Mallory wasn't able to secure
another polygraph from a police department somewhere close.”

“Serves him right.”

“It does not!” she laughed,
playfully slapping at his arm as he spooned up eggs for both of them
while she moved to pour two cups of coffee. “Severus, he was
just doing his job. Besides, it doesn't matter if he trusts you or
not. I do.”

At that, Severus set both the plates on
the table and turned pulling Lacey down into his lap at the breakfast
table. “I want you to know that means more to me than anything
in this world or the next,” he said, suddenly somber. “And
when all this is over... I want to know that, you will still
be there with me.”

“God willing, Severus, I will be,” she replied taking his
face in her hands.

“And... pet?”

“Yeah?”

“What
in blazes is your first name anyway?”

She laughed and
kissed his pointy nose. “Donna. Took you a while to ask that
one.”

They apparated back to Menwith sometime
later, arriving on a helipad that had been specifically reserved for
their use. It was quite a ways away from the base proper, which
afforded them some degree of privacy. This morning, however, they
appeared only to find one very stiffly standing Malfoy and an
extremely huffy Brynn stalking away toward the waiting HUM-V. Knowing
full well that there was no getting information out of Malfoy, Lacey
instead started after the furious woman.

“Brynn?” Brynn turned and
exhaled an obvious sigh of relief before snapping a quick salute as
Lacey approached and answered it with her own. “What's up,
Kellye? Blondie got you smarting this early in the morning? What did
he do,” she asked, barely holding back a smile. Brynn had
thought the wizard was quite the tasty dish when he first arrived at
the castle.

“He's a right foul bloody git,”
she sniped.

“You care to clarify that?”

“Ugh, he just thinks we all ought
just drop down and kiss his boots, that's all. He flat refuses to
climb in the Hummer, like I'm about to piggyback his arse up to
command or something, and to top it off he 'doesn't typically bother
to spend so much time in the presence of quite so many Muggles as it
happens'--or so he says. Piker.”

“Whew! Well you know he played on
the other team. Likely he's just saving his butt and his family's.
Dumbledore told us that straight away, so I don't know why it's
coming as a surprise now.”

“I was paying attention, believe
me. I just never met someone so bloody arrogant. I swear it's a
temptation to put that cane straight up his arse sideways. For that
matter he can head straight back to prison and be buggered by the
biggest man beast in the place.”

“Yes, well passing over Malfoy's
ass and all that happens to it--”

“Indeed,” said Severus
wryly and Lacey turned to see the two men striding up. Malfoy looked
extremely distempered at the turn of the conversation. “Shall
we get to your Major Mallory, ladies?”

“Sure,” said an utterly
unrepentent Brynn, swinging into the driver's seat of the vehicle and
starting it up. Lacey tipped an abashed smile at the two wizards and
climbed into the passenger seat.

“Severus are you quite sure this
is safe for passage?” Malfoy asked, making a display of pulling
out a handkerchief to wipe down the seat. Brynn gunned the engine as
Severus swung into the back seat and waved Malfoy into the Hummer.

“Why the concern, Lucius? Have
you lost your bits in Azkaban or did Narcissa get them in the
divorce?” Severus smiled winningly.

“Et tu, Severus?” snapped
Malfoy, his lip curling in disgust as he caught Brynn's triumphant
gleam in the rearview mirror. She punched the gas and started singing
a bawdy cadence merrily as they made their way down a gravel road to
the proper building. When they arrived, Lucius climbed as gracefully
as possible out of the tiny door while Brynn hopped out and made a
show of bowing him through the doorway as she held it. Lacey and
Severus eyed each other briefly when the two made their amusing
entrance.

“Ten pounds says they're shagging
each other senseless by the time this is over,” said Severus
lowly.

“I would go you another ten that
she lands him on his 'arse', but I don't take sucker bets.”

“Pity.” And with that, they
swept in together. “Neither do I.”

-----------------------------------------------------------
The
language, btw is of course Arabic. Granted, it's not Arabic script
because... ha. I have no idea how to write it or html those
characters into existence. So it's phonetic.

Oogaf wa illa 'armiik! = Stop or I'll shoot!
Inbitih
bala batnak! = Lie down on your stomach
laa tirmi! =
Don't shoot/no shooting
laa! = No!
Dhib bi-slahaak!
= Drop your weapons!
Hassa! = Now!
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Iron Dragons and Firelegs *COMPLETE*

Iron Dragons and Firelegs COMPLETE