He took the stairs two at a time as he made his way up to the fourth floor. He frowned as his steps echoed off the empty stairwell. How could she have come back and not told him? Sure… it wasn’t as if they had talked a whole lot in the past couple weeks. But still! They were working in the same hospital again! She hadn’t thought ‘oh, perhaps Marren would like to know’? Or if she had, she probably took great enjoyment in keeping it from him.

Grumbling to himself as he pushed the door open, he tried to put on a smile when he noticed he startled an older Healer. “Good morning Healer Brown.” Leaving her there, staring after him no doubt, he frowned as he started looking around for her office. Each floor was fairly identical to the one below it, and so he assumed that her office would be about the same place his was.

It had been a rather hard couple of weeks. Rita Skeeter had shown up, made his life a bit of a living hell, and had yet to post the article. He was nearly biting his fingernails in anticipation and worry about what it might say. On top of that, Fiona had been busy with work, and when he’d tried to tell her about the affair… he’d been unable to. He used the excuse that she had been so tired lately… she wouldn’t be thinking with her right head if he mentioned it. Jason valued his life a little too much, perhaps.

Stepping to the door with her name on it, he grit his teeth. She’d been back long enough for them to stick her name on a plaque. Or maybe that had been from before. Either way… He rubbed a hand over his face, letting out a breath and rubbing his eyes. Maybe he should tell her about Rita Skeeter having found out?

Pushing that aside, he straightened his healer frock out before taking in a deep breath, knocking lightly before opening the door. “You just show up without so much as an owl warning?” He stepped into her office, pushing the door to close behind him.

Miranda frowned deeply down at the papers piled on the large oak desk in front of her. The bottom of her rouged lip twitched slightly in annoyance before she placed a couple of sheets onto the pile on her left and patted the edges of pile in a somewhat obsessive fashion to make sure they were perfectly in line. She liked neatness. But what healer didn’t?

The office wasn’t exactly in perfect condition and Miranda had set this as her first task to sort now she was back. The ward would be changed to run in her manner of choice and this change would be carried out in bite sized chunks. There were two reasons for this.

1. Miranda, contrary to popular belief, only had a small mouth and needed to take things at one step at a time. If one consumed one of one’s favourite beef burgers in one mouthful, one would choke. That was messy.
2. The Healer was aware that she could cause a mutiny if things changed too quickly. Creedish wouldn’t fancy any walkouts because her new replacement was being a little overzealous and Miranda wouldn’t fancy being out on her backside within less than a day.

Therefore the Healer/wannabe slave driver had taken to organising every last bit of paper floating around the large room. Yes, large room. That had been a demand. She couldn’t be dealing with the small office she’d dealt with before. Jason now had that and he was probably very contented in it.

It was this thought that brought the rest of Miranda’s thoughts onto the man and she bit her lip hard. How would her predecessor react to her reappearance? How would he react to the woman he was having an affair with showing up on his doorstep?

Fortunately, Miranda didn’t have to wait long to find answers to these questions because after a light and, in her opinion, pointless knock on her door, it was rudely pushed open and there he was.

“You just show up without so much as an owl warning?”

Marren was even more attractive when he was irritated and she watched him over to the top of her glasses for a moment before leaning back in the large leather chair, folding her arms over her stomach.

“Should I have sent warnings to everyone, Jason? I didn’t realise you were special.” She said plainly, refusing to take her dark eyes off him.

He did notice the room was a bit bigger; one of those things you notice upon first assessment. The walls just seemed farther away than he was used to. She was farther away from the door than he was at his desk. Maybe he just needed to rearrange things in his office, give it that look of being bigger. It didn’t really matter; he was just in there for paperwork and those horrible interviews he didn’t know he would have. He still had a bad taste in his mouth from it.

And there Miranda was. She was really there. He found it harder to stay irritated as she looked at him. In reality, he started to feel that familiar tug, that desire that he hadn’t been able to quench in a few very long weeks. Now uncertain about his entrance, he pursed his lips slightly to the side, still frowning.

“Should I have sent warnings to everyone, Jason? I didn’t realise you were special.”

Then his frown deepened and he let the door slam a little bit as he pushed it closed the rest of the way. With nowhere to put his arms, he finally rested his hands on his hips, standing there like an idiot. “You know why a warning would have been nice.” Finally he stepped forward, putting his hands on the edge of the desk and leaning forward slightly. Merlin she was beautiful. Running his tongue over his lips, his eyes flickered down to her own before back to her eyes.

Work. They were at work. “I have hardly heard from you at all, and next thing I hear as gossip around the floor is ‘Elliot is back.’” It wasn’t said in the most carrying way possible, of course, but… it was the general gist of it. “When did you decide to come back?” Didn’t realize he was special… that was a bit harsh, considering, wasn’t it? He had felt a bit of a stab at that but let it go as best he could. Why was he even in her office?

Jason could have been making another round on his floor. Or preparing notes for the next meeting with all the other in-charge and Head Healer. Or catching up on paperwork… like it appeared was going on on Miranda’s desk. Glancing down at it briefly, he raised an eyebrow, finally letting his eyes move back to her and up to her face. Professional. He could be professional.

“You know why a warning would have been nice.”

In response to this statement, Miranda couldn’t suppress a smirk that came out to play on her lips. “Then you know why I didn’t warn you.” She said quietly as he came closer, leaning on her desk and looking at her lips. She bit her lower one, watching him carefully over thickly rimmed glasses. “I’m rarely nice.” Most of her colleagues doubted she had a heart, Miranda had heard the gossip made by idle medi-witches before receiving an Elliot style reprimand.

“I have hardly heard from you at all, and next thing I hear as gossip around the floor is ‘Elliot is back.’”

“I didn’t think we were in a relationship let alone one where obsessive contact is needed.” The healer replied, her eyebrows raised slightly. “I’m not your wife, Healer Marren” She wasn’t about to go into her irritation at being referred to simply as ‘Elliot’. Some people needed to be taught respect.

Besides, Jason carried on with his pointless questions. What did it matter when she decided to return? She was back. And he had to deal with it. God knew she hadn’t been having an affair with him for his brains. The dark eyes flashed across his lips, and her own parted slightly before she lifted a hand to her glasses and pulled them off.

“I had a desire for a change of scenery.” Her eyes slowly moved away from him as she picked up her wand and started to clean the glasses.

“Then you know why I didn’t warn you… I’m rarely nice.”

At first he had a slightly confused look on his face. Then he saw her biting her lip and his eyebrows rose slightly, his eyes softening a little bit. Then she stated the obvious and he blinked, frowning once again. Looking up at her eyes, forcing himself to push thoughts he rather enjoyed thinking about away, Jason grit his teeth and let out a breath. “Would have been decent, then.”

“I didn’t think we were in a relationship let alone one where obsessive contact is needed.”

Narrowing his gaze, he drummed his fingers on the desk. Obsessive contact? Giving him a heads up when she decided to invade his professional environment again wasn’t obsessive contact. It was polite! He also had possibly maybe missed her somewhat. When she said she wasn’t his wife, he let out a hard breath and grit his teeth again. Thank goodness for that. He couldn’t deal with her little mood swings all the time. One minute she wanted him, the next she couldn’t give two knuts about him.

It was so… frustrating!

“I had a desire for a change of scenery.”

Taking in a few shallow breaths, shifting his legs slightly, he swallowed as he looked at her. She had him where she wanted him. Or didn’t want him. Pulling himself back, standing up, he tried to brush it off. “Easily distracted then?” Crossing his arms over his chest, he wasn’t sure why he was still there, right then. She made her point clear, right? Biting his lower lip, he felt unsure of himself now.

“You know…” Grimacing, he shook his head, taking another step back. “I just figured you might have thought to… mention it. Considering our… history…” Finally he shook his head and laughed uncomfortably. “So are we even going to discuss what’s gone on?” This was ridiculous. Making a face he put his hands in his pockets, reaching deep and bending forward slightly while watching her. He felt like a teenager right then.

Shaking his head, he kicked a foot out and turned half way to the door. “I should get back down. To my floor.” She would make fun of him if he let slip- “I missed- I miss- I might have missed you.” She made him feel like an idiot. And now he felt sillier. Making a face, he pulled a hand out of his pocket. "I should... go." Pointing to the door, he gave her a sheepish smile.

“I just figured you might have thought to… mention it. Considering our… history…”

Their history? Miranda’s eyebrows rose as she looked up from her glasses to him. There wasn’t that much history in it. They’d been bedfellows for over a month now and that was basically it. In fact, there had been two weeks when she’d been back in Scotland and hadn’t contacted him. And aww…Jason was getting upset by that.  Miranda reluctantly hid her smirk.

“So are we even going to discuss what’s gone on?”

Miranda looked at him expectedly for some inkling into what they were to discuss. His body language, however, said he wasn’t going to be to the point and was going to pussy foot around like first year hufflepuff.  The healer behind the desk didn’t ever pussy foot around, though.

“You mean the sex? Yes it was good. I enjoyed it. Maybe we can have more. But not at work. I can’t be ruining the image I obviously hold amongst our colleagues. And it’s unhygienic. These beds are for sick people.” As ever Miranda Elliot was treating her personal life like another case at work. It would just be dealt with face on and medically analysed with no faffing and little emotion shown. She’d already shown people she had emotions other than anger last month after her brother’s death. That didn’t need to happen again.

Now that the glasses had been cleaned, Miranda put them back on and looked up at Jason, an innocent smile on her lips. She saw nothing wrong in acting how she was. She wasn’t about to get close to Jason in any other way than they already had. That was the only closeness and intimacy she could handle right then.

“I missed- I miss- I might have missed you.”

With her left hand gripping her wand, Miranda gave it a flick to lift a pile of papers into the air. When Jason released those words from his mouth, both Miranda’s wrist and her bottom lip twitched and the papers scattered all over the floor. That perfect pile of anally organised parchment.

"I should... go."

Miranda’s teeth grit as she started at the parchment, jaw wrenched tight. It took a moment before she trusted herself to speak. “That parchment took me an hour to put into perfect alphabetical order of both injury damage and patient name.” She said, trying to keep calm.

“You mean the sex?”

Blinking, his face showed how surprised he was at her saying it straight out. He tried to cover it up, frowning a little, finally shrugging slightly in agreement. Sure, he could mean that.

“-Yes it was good. I enjoyed it. Maybe we can have more. But not at work. I can’t be ruining the image I obviously hold amongst our colleagues. And it’s unhygienic. These beds are for sick people.”

His mouth parted when she said it was good. That was good to hear; it boosted his ego. Then she said she enjoyed it and he felt a smile coming to his lips. Then she said they could possibly have more and his eyebrows rose. Mentioning not at work, he let out a noisy breath and shook his head. “No, I wasn’t-” There were other ways at work than just in the beds. A bit more grumbled than he meant, he responded “It’s not all unhygienic…” But she did seem to worry more about her image than he did.

His mouth did open in surprise as she scattered all her papers around. Slightly shocked by that, he wasn’t sure whether he should run for his life or offer to help. Really, he was shocked still. All those papers… He felt a small tug at the corner of his lips, but refused to laugh out loud. Merlin forbid she curse him right then.

“That parchment took me an hour to put into perfect alphabetical order of both injury damage and patient name.”

Gently tapping his finger against his stubbly chin, he smirked now. “Why didn’t you just file it away in the first place so you wouldn’t have this sort of predicament?” Rolling his eyes slightly, he pulled his own wand out and circled it slightly, at least picking some of it up and bringing it to him. Shuffling what he had so it was all facing the same way at least, he set it on the edge of her desk. “Once you get this sorted again, you should file it right away.”

She hadn’t really responded to him admitting he missed her and her company. Just tossed her papers everywhere. With his wand again, he started to collect a few more near him, careful not to step on them. “Why by injury damage? Isn’t it more important to know what spell and when it happened?” They kept their files alphabetical within what creature had done the damage, chronologically. Why was she trying to reinvent the wand?

After a few more wand sweeps, he’d picked up the papers and set them a bit hap hazardously on the desk. He watched her for a moment before moving around towards her side of the desk. “Do you need some help with… putting the papers back? Surely it would go quicker with two people.” His reports weren’t very long, and he would have them sorted before lunchtime.

“Why didn’t you just file it away in the first place so you wouldn’t have this sort of predicament?”

Once again Miranda asked herself what had made her fall for him quite so much during her moments of headless passion. She slowly relaxed her jaw and glared back around at him, lowering the wand carefully. Oh yes, he was the perfect toy boy. He was young, attractive, muscular and the stubble…her own bad boy. Just her type, with the small issue of age. Oh yes, and a wife.

When Jason spoke again, Miranda became aware that her lips had parted slightly after that small relapse she’d encountered. She bit her lip before glancing down at her wand. She was irritated! He’d mentioned missing her. He wasn’t allowed.

“I was about to file them when you barged into my office without my consent.” Back to the mean, cold heartedness. That was better. Miranda took in a deep breath and leaned back in her chair, looking down at the papers. She had to keep her cool around Jason. Especially at work. But she didn’t want their private affair to end. No way.

“Why by injury damage? Isn’t it more important to know what spell and when it happened?”

“I tell you what, Jason. When they put you in charge of this floor as well as my old one, you can tell me how to file my paperwork.” Before she’d started on the first floor they’d filed everything by how long the patient had been in hospital! Miranda was convinced she knew best and anyone that disagreed would be trodden on. But perhaps it wasn’t fair to stick the boot in quite as much when she wanted something from Jason later.

Before Miranda knew it the papers had been plonked (yes, plonked) in no particular order on the top of her desk. The mess that had only a few moments before been perfection. Her attention was on these when Jason made his way around the side of her desk, closer to her and she felt the hair at the back of her neck stand to attention.

“I don’t fancy you messing up my filing system anymore, thank you.” Miranda finally pulled her eyes from the parchment laying spontaneously on her desk and she looked up at Jason. She had missed him but she was in no way going to ever admit that. Ever.

“You know, I’m surprised you came to see me so quickly, Jayboy.”

“I was about to file them when you barged into my office without my consent.”

Was that was she was doing when he walked in? Sitting behind her desk, staring at her piles of paper. If he hadn’t known any better (and it appears he didn’t), he would have thought she looked a little overwhelmed. A new job, new things to get in order, new, bigger room to put in its place. He was sure she was just about to file them. Perhaps after another ten or twenty minutes. Or perhaps not. Though to be sure, Jason wasn’t jealous of her office. He liked his size just fine.

He didn’t need to compensate for anything.

“I tell you what, Jason. When they put you in charge of this floor as well as my old one, you can tell me how to file my paperwork.”

His jaw went tight as he put his hands up, obviously not wanting to touch that anymore than he had to now. She was a bit vicious wasn’t she? Jason knew that about her, sure; he’d been in direct fire of it for how many years? It had been a godsend when he’d gotten at least equal with her… but then she did the same thing, condescending and completely put down in a way that could have been polite insulting. ‘My old one’ his arse. Jason had thought she’d at least be a little nicer to him, considering their out of office… thing.

“I don’t fancy you messing up my filing system anymore, thank you.”

Stopping in his walk around her desk, he frowned at her. He wasn’t the one who dropped it! Pursing his lips slightly, he felt his irritation slinking back in. Scratching at the stubble on his neck, he took a step back away from her. Jason was reminded of the first time he’d seen her, ages ago. She’d still been beautiful, of course, a more youthful step to her bounce. And he’d been attracted to her.  Until she opened her mouth and put him down in some way within the first five minutes of meeting him.

Well… he might have still been attracted but it wasn’t quite what it had been before. Learning to deal with her mood was almost like a second job. “Ineffective filing system if you continue to drop it every time you pick it up.” He grumbled a bit under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear. It was an empty office save them two, after all.

“You know, I’m surprised you came to see me so quickly, Jayboy.”

Rolling his eyes a bit, he smirked half heartedly and shrugged, taking a wide stance near where he’d stopped in his walk around the desk, watching her momentarily before finally responding. “It was obviously a bit silly. Unnecessary. You seem extremely busy.” He had really heard about it, made sure everyone knew he was going to be off the floor for a short while, and then ran up the stairs. “I suppose shock and disbelief make others come running quick.” She was his old boss, after all.

Who he had talked to outside of the hospital, then had an affair with, and now was going to have to act like nothing had happened. “I had to find out if the rumors were true, anyway. To quell the staff. Now that I know the same cold hearted… woman is back… I can inform them.” When she looked at him, now all he wanted to do was kiss her and hoist her onto her desk. At least right then. But he had to hold back. From the sounds of it, she hadn’t missed him all that much or he would have heard from her before then, right? A couple weeks without word or correspondence for a chance meet up… She said all she needed to in that, really.

“Ineffective filing system if you continue to drop it every time you pick it up.”

Jason’s reply came out in a mumble and all his colleague did in reply was roll her eyes. He and his expressed feelings had literally made her send the papers flying. Miranda Elliot didn’t much like actual displays of emotions and feelings with the exception of anger, irritation and exasperation. The Healer was a professional with those select few. Jason was lucky she wasn’t being even more condescending thanks to the way he was making her feel right then.

“It was obviously a bit silly. Unnecessary. You seem extremely busy.”

“I’m always extremely busy.” Miranda responded, as she started to twist her wand around in her left hand, her eyes scanning down his body like a hitwizard assessing his target. A small part of the woman wanted to cave into the desires that were slowly reappearing, but she kept these at bay. At work it was very necessary that the couple remained professional. Miranda wasn’t about to start acting like a teenage witch with no self control and lusting hormones coursing through her body (most certainly to the disappointment of the man in front of her) and reveal any affair going on. But that didn’t stop her getting a good look of what she could enjoy later if he was willing to ditch the naïve wife and whining child for a few hours of meaningless fun.

As the man at the centre of Miranda’s thoughts continued talking, something was starting to tug at the corners of her lips. A smile! “I tend to call it fear.” She whispered, eyes flashing down to his lips and back.

“I had to find out if the rumors were true, anyway. To quell the staff. Now that I know the same cold hearted… woman is back… I can inform them.”

Andy wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about being referred to as the ‘cold hearted woman’. Mostly, she was satisfied with the fact she was remembered and still held the same amount of respect (she classed respect as fear. It worked for her). Nonetheless, a dislike felt by people didn’t always fill a woman with self confidence. Especially one who was aging and having an affair with a married man because she couldn’t find a stable relationship.

“Inform them that I’ve become worse after dealing with spiteful little brats. After all, who else would deal with you?” She smirked slightly although she didn’t feel like smiling now. Miranda was very glad to be back here. She couldn’t work with those children anymore. Not after seeing one of the boys whose live she’d saved kill her brother. It made the woman feel physically sick.

“I’m always extremely busy.”

Or acted like it. Then again, weren’t women ace at pretending they were doing something other than what you needed them to do? So when Miranda said she was always extremely busy (no matter how much of an exaggeration that was), she could essentially pull it off and make it appear that way. On top of that, women seemed to focus on the oddest and simplest things to keep busy with. Who really had to make everything on their desk just so and perfect except someone as nitpicky as Miranda?

Jason did feel her eyes on him, but merely took it as a compliment. He did wonder briefly if he’d spilled coffee on himself or something, but resisted the urge to look. If he had… where she was looking, he would have dumped it in his lap. Smirking slightly at that, he felt a familiar sensation. While Jason felt bad and guilty for cheating on his wife… Miranda helped him forget, at least when they were together. She made him feel wanted as well. He liked the physical aspect of their newfound ‘relationship.’

“I tend to call it fear.”

An odd pang sliced through his chest at her words, though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t fear. A sense of foreboding, perhaps, or a sudden desire to lift her up on to the desk and forget where they were. All in all, it wasn’t unpleasant. If he was envisioning her on her desk, certainly not, anyway. Was that a smile he saw? Smirking at that, he ran his tongue over his lips, finally letting his gaze move back up to her eyes.

“Inform them that I’ve become worse after dealing with spiteful little brats. After all, who else would deal with you?”

Laughing at that, he gave her a fake bow. “Yes ma’am, I’ll get right on the gossip train.” Shaking his head, he watched her a moment. He decided that maybe she should be reminded just how ‘spiteful’ (or at the very least, unexpected) he could be. Stepping forward once again, he moved next to her, sitting up on the edge of her desk, pushing some of the papers aside (and not noticing as they fluttered to the ground).

Watching her a moment, he was overcome with the desire to at least taste her lips. And so, he did. Jason leaned forward suddenly, holding the side of her face with one hand before pressing lightly against her lips with his. He pulled back after just a brief taste, running the tip of his tongue over the bottom lip, finally looking at her face while sitting back up on the desk. “Let’s go to lunch.” Standing up, he walked away from her as if nothing had just happened.

“When… it’s lunch time, of course.” Turning half towards her once he was on the other side of the desk, he tapped his chin in thought. “I was thinking about going to one of the upcoming Quidditch matches. Would you be interested in going with me?” She had made it fairly clear what she’d thought of their ‘relationship’ that she didn’t want to classify as anything. After a moment, he continued as if it were the most natural thing to do. "How about dinner. At my place tonight?" Fiona was going to be busy with work, he was fairly certain.

The barrier that was the desk had already been intercepted when Jason had stepped into her private bit of her office and now the man sat himself down on the desk in front of Miranda. Her eyebrows rose dramatically and she opened her mouth to reprimand him when he started to lean closer, his lips locking with her own.

With just a brief taste, Miranda knew she wanted more herself and leaned further just as he pulled back. She balanced herself with a hand on the desk and frowned up at him. What was he doing to her? Miranda Elliot always had control and she usually had control of when and where she and Jason would make the most of their recent arrangement.

“Let’s go to lunch.”

Then he stood up and started to walk back around the desk as if he hadn’t just done anything! Miranda grit her teeth as she watched him. She sat up straighter and tried to return her expression to normal, but now she just looked half surprised half confused. And she didn’t like this one little bit.

“I was thinking about going to one of the upcoming Quidditch matches. Would you be interested in going with me?”

“Jason…?” Andy opened her mouth to tell him there was no way they’d be doing that in public when he continued and surprised her even further. Her eyes widened as she watched him, not quite sure what to say.

“At your place?” She sounded far from convinced and a little condescending now. Was he kidding her? Miranda bit her lip and frowned slightly as she slowly stood up. After straightening her grey trousers, Miranda took her time to walk around to Jason and step very close to him.

“Someone’s a little confused.” Miranda whispered softly as she wrapped her arms around Jason’s neck. “We don’t do lunch. Or dinner. Especially at your place. We do this,” She shook her head slowly before reaching up and kissing his lips a little more passionately than before.

It was satisfying to see that look on her face, and to cause her to lean in for more. Jason always wondered if she was as easy to tease as he was. It looked as if she was… And he felt as if he could put a little point on his side of the board. That frown told him enough as well. Forcing the triumphant smirk from coming up entirely on his lips, he enjoyed the little walk away from her. Leave her wanting more… that was the way to do it!

When he heard her say his name, he merely smirked and raised an eyebrow in question towards her before continuing. Now that she wasn’t stuck in Hogwarts… maybe they would have time to just hang out together. He liked her for her brain and ability to carry a conversation as much as he liked her for her curves and bedroom nature.

“At your place?”

He watched her get up and he was suddenly unsure of himself. “Well… yeah…” Hadn’t he said that? He could cook very well, and he hadn’t had a lot of chance to prove that to her. Plus… he figured he would probably have the place to himself. Aidan could go to sleep early.

“Someone’s a little confused.”

Looking down a bit, his mouth opened just slightly, his hands making their way around to her back, unsure of himself still. “About wh…”

“We don’t do lunch. Or dinner. Especially at your place. We do this.”

He was about to respond, having taken in a breath to do so, when she made him pause. We do what? Jason didn’t have long to wait for a response, though, and his eyebrows rose dramatically before he gave in, pulling her to him a little more. Parting her lips, tasting her, he suddenly pushed her back towards her desk. He was very confused right then, but he wasn’t about to question it.

Once they bumped into it, he didn’t waste a moment. Lifting her up quickly, breaking away long enough to not bite her when he did so, he moved back to her lips hungrily. A couple weeks without hearing from her, and then get the opportunity to show how much of a hold she seemed to have on his desires? He never stood a chance. With one arm supporting her back, he moved his other hand to the desk, leaning forward against her and forcing her back slightly.

A noisy breath escaped his lips as he tried to catch his, kissing her a bit more enthusiastically than he meant to show. Silly boy… he still had a lot to learn, it seemed. "We co-could." He paused just briefly to get out a couple words between kissing her. "We can do... lunch... dinner... my place, yours... We did before."

Rita had heard it on the devil's snare that a particular healer had made her way back from Scotland and the security of Hogwarts school to her old place of work. This was what led the reporter to St. Mungo's on this day - the threat of breaking news was bursting through the walls and calling her like a dragon calling for its young.

She straightened her jacket as she tottered along the quiet street in her high-heels, arriving at the front door of the hospital. She made her way in and checked the small piece of parchment she was carrying with her. "Fourth floor, spell damage..." she muttered to herself as she squinted through her glasses at the sign indicating floors. She trailed her finger down the sign and stopped at fourth floor. "Aha! Spell damage." She grinned. Sure enough, next to the title was "Healer-In-Charge; Miranda Elliot."

Not wanting to waste any time, Rita made her way in the elevator up to the fourth floor. She smiled as a young healer let her out of the lift before entering himself and made her way along the corridor, checking the plaques on doors as she walked past. When she arrived at the door in question, she took a deep breath and was ready to knock.

She could hear voices. She stopped and looked up and down the corridor - she didn't want anyone to see her snooping. When the coast was clear, she crouched down in a very unladylike manner and let her head lean closer to the keyhole. A female voice spoke, and then a male voice. Wait, was that-  she straightened up as quickly as she could as the male voice neared the door. But the coast was clear for now as he didn't come out of the office. Rita's lips curled up at the sides. "Marren." She whispered. "Now, I have you cornered."

Things went silent inside. Rita's eyebrows shot up and threatened to disappear into her hairline as she heard the unmistakable sound of someone being practically thrown onto the desk, and the sound of papers being tossed around. Well, this just wasn't going to do. Rita stood up straight and knocked on the door as loudly as she could.

These feelings… hormones… they were natural, but not at this age. Not at this point in his life. Not when he was at work! And yet… they were only natural. He couldn’t necessarily be held accountable for the animalistic urge, right? He was a warm blooded male, after all. They didn’t hold up to the same standards and rules as… warm blooded females would really be the only thing that made sense in his head for the counter of that statement.

His breathing was faster, noisier, his hands roaming over the material of her blasted trousers. She needed to wear skirts! Or at least, that was his personal opinion. Speaking as a third party observer. And he would observe as well. He wasn’t above appreciating.

His heart was beating fast against his chest. Then a knock could be heard, and his heart stopped. His breathing came to a halted inhale, his body still. It felt like a lot longer than it was, and he finally let the breath out in a ‘noo…’ moan. Cursing under his breath, he leaned forward and swept the rest of the papers off the desk, practically diving for the floor. It would serve a couple of different purposes, as he saw it.

First, it would allow him time to recover from blood loss. That would be beneficial in ways he could only promise. Jason was much better when he was thinking with all of his brain. Second… it would keep his hands busy and give him a reason for all the noise they were making. People fell or tripped all the time, and look at clumsy Jason! Spilling paperwork all over the floor. Third, he could become a passive member of the conversation. Who was really going to address the guy on his hands and knees in the office, doing menial clean up tasks?

Or so Jason thought. He just hoped Miranda collected herself quickly enough. A delayed groan escaped his lips as his face fell slightly. His knee had made contact with the side of the desk on the way down, and now it was letting him know how angry it was that Jason decided to become all wobbly legged. Making a quick jerk motion to her to get to the door, attempting to catch his breath, he shuffled some papers together and moved on his hands and knees to pick up some more. Stay down… no one need know anything. No one need suspect it either. And hopefully he would be able to walk without a limp. It had made a pretty nice, solid sound.