“HEY!”

Right… right. Jason needed to remember personal space. He wasn’t at work, and he wasn’t on some research safari. Perhaps this was his way of getting her back for the bird run in. Who knows, maybe he had some sort of phobia of them. Brushing that off with a mental laugh, Jason focused at the task on hand. Both pupils reacted to the light, and weren’t quite as light when the light wasn’t filtering straight through them. In all honesty, he was a bit surprised he hadn’t noticed them before, but they weren’t in such contrast in an office.

When he pulled away, he sat on his knees and watched her roll over, a bit agitated by the way she rubbed her eyes. He tried to put on his best innocent face (it was quite convincing, even if those he used it on knew he was to blame). Time to act like a naïve man. This should be easy. Just think of Felix. Play dumb. That’s all it would take.

“GREAT flaming DUNGBOMBS! What is your—?”

His eyes widened with her words, that look of ‘caught in the wandlight’ on his face. Perfect… he could ham this up all day. What he didn’t notice was little Aidan stirring in the stroller, his little arms stretching and the little fuss the issued from between his lips. Thankfully, Jason was quick on the ball and stunned her quiet. Not that it would make a difference with the slowly waking toddler, but… at least she didn’t yell at him anymore.

“It is something I inherited… by my mother.”

His eyebrows rose in curiosity and he scooted a little closer, biting his lower lip. To press his luck, or not to press his luck… He was all ready where he was, what could a little more hurt? The corners of his lips turned up slightly as he started to form an idea of what he wanted to do.

“Just a trick of the light, although sometimes it can be affected by emotion.”

His eyes flickered between hers, and finally he lifted a hand. Before he touched, however, he grinned and winked. “Just want to look…” As his hand hovered next to her cheek, he heard the muffled cry. Turning to look at Aidan, suddenly concerned, his hand dropped and he moved towards the little guy. He was stretching and suddenly grumpy. Unhooking him from the stroller, Jason pulled Aidan to him and started to bounce him slightly. “Sorry, he must’ve woken… up.” Clearly.

The grump-miester (who must have gotten his horrible wake up skills from his mum) fought Jason a little, pushing against him. Jason laid back on the grass, rocking Aidan into the air for a little ‘airplane’ or ‘flying’ game. Finally the little guy started to calm down, and Jason let him sit on top of his abdomen for a few moments. “So how is it affected by your emotions? What do they do?”

It was a wonder she didn’t hex him, and just as she was about to mouth, “Do not give me that look!” her lips shut and her wand stayed in its holster, especially when she saw what her previous screaming had done to the child.  Rolling back she sat up and crossed her legs, her brow furrowed anxiously as the little man pouted and squirmed in his sleep.

Covi quietly watched, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, as the Healer scooted closer to her she looked down.  This time there was not a thought in her mind about moving away and this time he was staring into her eyes not at them, and she was trapped in his gaze.  She kept it this time, unafraid of the stare, but her breath caught up in her when his hand lifted.  Her expression was relaxed and calm, emulating the look in his eyes, mixed with puzzlement.

What… was he going to do?  Her mind was racing in all different directions, but still she sat there frozen on the spot.  The witch was going to let him decide what he wanted, and oddly enough she was perfectly fine with that.

Sadly, the moment was cut short by the cry of the boy.  At last she could breathe!  Covi was surprised at how long she had been holding it in, but her lungs weren’t burning at all, she actually felt quite… floaty.

She grinned as the man picked up the toddler and played with the boy.  Robbie used to do that to her, the flying broom thing.  However, one she was able to control her body a bit more he would put her stomach on his feet and grab onto his fingers when he bent his knees.  Then he would roll back and she would be lifted up into the air.  And once she was stabilized she would say, “Let’er rip!” and he would let her hands go and straighten his legs, and she was flying on her own!  Slowly she would lean one way and the other, and his legs would follow so she would sway right and left and up and down while Robbie made wooshing noises.  She looked like the “Superman” Billy always talked about.

“So how is it affected by your emotions? What do they do?”

“Err… umm…” she had been distracted by watching him play with Aidan.

“Well, I have been told they get more grey when I am holding something negative back, then really pale and icy when I am in an argument,” she started putting up her hand and counting down her fingers, “Bright almost neon blue when I am nervous, and the way my eyes are now,” she pointed at them, “the regular old blue is when I am in my ‘resting state’ and go a bit brighter when I am happy, and umm…” she fought back a blush and covered the hesitation by coughing, “really, really, really, really dark blue when I am… you know…”

“Err… umm…”

Raising an eyebrow, Jason gave her a small grin from his position, his head tilted in the grass with the blades tickling the back of his neck and ear. He kept one hand on his little guy to keep him steady while he lounged out. His free hand went behind his head to support it and stop the little itching and tickling sensation against his ear. Jason had a good view of Covadonga, but it was a bit distorted as he was looking at her from the side rather than straight on.

What was important was he was able to keep eye contact while she spoke.

“Well, I have been told they get more grey when I am holding something negative back, then really pale and icy when I am in an argument.”

Watching her, he laughed softly as she started to count off on her hand. These were some interesting eyes if they did all this based on emotion. As Aidan grasped Jason’s hand that was holding him on his dad’s abdomen, he tugged and swung the much bigger hand around as if it were a game. Glancing away briefly to look at the boy, Jason made sure he was balanced all right then turned his gaze back to Covadonga. Grey made sense; it gave the idea of clouds or overcast, which would coincide with negative for a lot of people.

Icy for an argument also made sense, depending on how she argued. Biting his lower lip, Jason studied her a moment, trying to picture it. She had gotten a little heated a short while ago, especially when he did his sudden light test; was it the same? Or was that a different emotion entirely? Did she classify the feelings she had during an argument the same as when she was irritated and caught off guard?

“Bright almost neon blue when I am nervous, and the way my eyes are now… the regular old blue is when I am in my ‘resting state’ and go a bit brighter when I am happy, and umm…”

Raising an eyebrow at her sudden apprehension, Jason scooted himself a little closer, taking from the way she was acting that whatever she had to say would be said quietly. He wondered how he could test all these colors; she didn’t seem like an easy one to make nervous. Jason figured he could get an argument going about the birds, if he needed to. Then again, he could take her word for that part of the eye color transformation…

“-really, really, really, really dark blue when I am… you know…”

Comprehension dawned on him and a grin slowly formed. He tried to cover it, however, and glanced to Aidan to try and hide the smirk. Fussing with his son, picking him up off his stomach and setting him down in the grass, Jason rolled over on to his side, one hand near the boy and the other to keep his head up. His eyes turned towards her once again and he gave her as best a questioning look as he could. Might as well have fun with this while he could.

“When you are… what? Eating ice cream? Sleeping?” He could keep that up all day as well, really just wanting to get her to blush a little more. It was cute, her sudden awkwardness, and Jason wasn’t about to let it go by without a little fun. Aidan pushed against his dad and slowly got up to his feet, taking a few steps while holding on to Jason’s pant leg towards the cart, no doubt looking for his sippy.

If he was truly a man, had been in a relationship long enough with a child, and if he had been quick enough to catch her expression she knew well enough that he should have caught her meaning.  But nooo, he was going to play dumb.

Well, two could play at that game.

“Of course not when eating ice cream, they would be a brighter blue because I would be happy or a bit grayish if I had dropped it since I would be holding some cursing back.  And as for the sleeping… well, I wouldn’t know, because my eyes would be closed.”

Sadly, she was distracted from their bit of fun when the boy got up on wobbly legs.  He seemed to be on a mission the way he toddled over to the stroller.  With a small grunt, as her legs and back were a bit stiff from lying on the ground for so long.  Well, he wasn’t crying, so he didn’t need to be changed.  Crouching down she looked at his face with narrowed, concentrated eyes.

He looked back up at her, mimicking her narrowed eyes and stood still, steadying himself by stiffening his arms and moving them about when he tilted one way or another.  Covi knew better than to pick him up, instead she helped him out a bit by going to the diaper bag laying behind the stroller, rummaging about with the same look as the babe had on before.  She was on a mission.

With a grin she found the booty, a sippy cup and a tiny bag of cereal.  She knew he was hungry and/or thirsty so she played it safe and took both out.  Quietly she walked back over to him, crouched down and handed the food and drink to him.  With a smile he plopped back down on his bum, dropped the bag and tilted up the cup and drank.  She stood back up, patted him on the head with a victorious grin and sat back down by his father.

“So, where were we?”

“Of course not when eating ice cream, they would be a brighter blue because I would be happy or a bit grayish if I had dropped it since I would be holding some cursing back. And as for sleeping… well, I wouldn’t know, because my eyes would be closed.”

She certainly thought that out quickly. An amused grin came over his face and he ran a hand over his eyes and down to his lips, sighing. “Well, maybe you need someone with you while you sleep to find out for you.” His hand moved back to where it had been, resting on his side near Aidan in case he needed a little helping hand. Watching Covadonga for a moment, Jason was about to continue his questioning to make her either blush or give in when she suddenly got up.

Watching her, interested with what she was doing, Jason turned slightly so he was more on his back than his side, his eyes following her as she looked at Aidan then moved over to the stroller. Scratching the back of his head, his eyebrows raised as she finally emerged with a cup and some snacks. Chuckling, pushing himself up on to his elbow, Jason let out a sigh as his son gladly took the offerings and plopped down to indulge himself. Just like his parents. At least there wasn’t any firewhiskey in the sippy…

He’d thought about it now and again, like how his grandmother used to do when he was fussy. Especially when he was teething… a little suck on a finger dipped in whiskey, and then the baby wasn’t fussy anymore. So far, though, Aidan was easy to deal with. His little hand reached into the bag and pulled out a fist full of food, stuffing it in and munching down happily.

“So, where were we?”

Blinking and turning his head to look at her, he gave her a lazy smile while he thought about it. Where were they? His instinct was to say ‘the park,’ but his brain worked to recall what they were on about before. Moving the hand that wasn’t helping hold him up to his mouth, running his fingers across his lips, he finally recalled and his eyes widened a bit as his grin settled in. “You were telling me what really, really, really, really dark blue meant.”

If only to push it a little more, he put on his pseudo innocent expression and turned back on his side, facing Covadonga more. “I mean, you could show me how your eyes get that way, if you want. I’d be interested in how ‘really, really, really, really dark blue’ is, as far as a shade.” He couldn’t help a small uplift of his lips from slipping out and he tried to compensate by putting his hand over his mouth, forcing a thoughtful expression.

“Well, maybe you need someone with you while you sleep to find out for you.”

Well then… that was a bit forward of him, wasn’t it?  A smirk laced its way around her lips as she bought time by looked back at the little boy as he tore into the cereal. 

Looking back at the man, with just a wee tint of that intense dark, dark… dark blue in her eyes she replied nonchalantly, “I doubt that would work, usually any other person who has the potential to be in such a situation is so exhausted they have fallen asleep first.”

Covadonga had just killed two birds with one stone.  He wanted to see that dark blue and she delivered, and she probably had dropped that second stone on his head with that comment of hers.  And yes, she had caught that look on his face.  He did indeed know very well what the answer was.  Now it was time to change the topic.

“Where are you headed off to after this?”

Jason put hidden meanings behind his words all the time, and sometimes let them slip out without realizing possible consequences of them. At least she smirked, showing him that what he said hadn’t been completely taboo and that she wasn’t offended. He really disliked offending someone with his humor. Besides… it had been a fairly easy suggestion to her answer anyway. If she didn’t know the color because she slept… then clearly someone else would have to check.

“I doubt that would work, usually any other person who has the potential to be in such a situation is so exhausted they have fallen asleep first.”

An eyebrow rose as he rolled over just slightly, his gaze now on her. “So exhausted that they fall asleep before you?” His own smirk came up and he shook his head, glancing down at the grass and pulling a couple blades up. “Perhaps you should start dating someone with some stamina, Covadonga.” Looking up at her, he chuckled and then blew the small handful of grass towards her, sighing as he thought about continuing his tease. His eyes did flicker over hers, and he leaned forward slightly. He thought to remark on the shade as well, except that she cut him off with a new question.

“Where are you headed off to after this?”

Blinking, his gaze broke from her eyes as he glanced to her nose, her cheek, her hair, and finally he leaned back and shook his head, a somewhat clueless look on his face. “Probably to find some ducks. I don’t have anything pressing to do today… thought heading out would be nicer than cleaning up the house, anyway.” Not that it would get done unless he did it; Fiona was the absolute worst woman alive for that sort of thing. He wasn’t even sure if she knew how to dust… or if she knew what a clean dish towel looked like.

Forcing himself to not grin at that, Jason fiddled with his shirt for a moment before shrugging a little. “So far it’s been nice…”

Scratching his chin, he grinned and tilted his head. “What about you? You off to somewhere… fun?” His legs crossed at the ankles and he moved them back and forth nonchalantly. He could see Aidan out of the corner of his eye, plucking at the grass and taking moments to have another bite of his snack and gulp from his sippy.

She matched his eyebrow, all the while keeping her smirk before looking away.  Sure she was naughty from time to time, but she was not going to honor Mr. Marren’s comment with a response.  It would be immoderate to do so.  As for the ducks, well…

Covadonga looked over White Ash Pond behind them and then twisted back, her lips pursed in concentration.  No, no, that would not do.  They would need more to hide behind than the wee pond could offer, especially around humans.  They would need more trees lining the water, where the roots and branches would stick out over the water, they needed…

“Penn Ponds,” she mumbled to herself, as if in a trance.  Realizing he may not have heard she refocused and turned to Jason with a happy grin, “Penn’s would be a good place to find some watery feathered fowl,” she pointed behind them, beyond White Ash, “further west.  There is a bridge over the two if he really wants to get their attention,” by he she meant Aidan.  While it was much quieter standing around the edge of it the water, anyone standing up on the bridge that had food or something big and shiny on them could be seen far across both ends of the pond.

Lowering her arm he asked,

“What about you? You off to somewhere… fun?”

With a sigh she laid back down, more hair flying out of her bun as she did so.  Covi hadn’t really thought of where she was going next today.  The only thing on her mind was relaxation, which certainly meant she wasn’t going back to HQ.  Looking down her body she picked her pocket-watch out of her jacket and held the face of it above hers.  Wiggling her nose she set it back down again.

“I figure I may go home and start cooking dinner for my brother and Morgy,” oh, right, he didn’t know who Morgy was, “my freed house-elf,” she slapped on as an addendum.  Around her peers the Magizoologist/ethologist would have left off the adjective as most held the same ideals as she, but as to where the Healer’s opinions lie… who knows.

She looked up at him with a silly grin, “I guess I could come up with something pretty elaborate this early, eh?”

She said something so soft he couldn’t quite understand it, and as he leaned forward, a soft “Sorry?” came out. Then she turned towards him and he moved back to his original spot, smiling back at her.

“Penn’s would be a good place to find some watery feathered fowl… further west. There is a bridge over the two if he really wants to get their attention.”

 Glancing to where she pointed, Jason sat up slightly, grunting before he laid back down on the grass. “Thank you. I don’t know how much he’ll be into it…” He was just past one, after all. But Jason figured he’d be interested in the ducks fighting over a loaf of bread, and possibly even chasing the little birds. Or maybe running away from them. It all depended on Aidan, really. Some kids were fearless, and some were scared of their own shadow. Neither was a bad personality to have, really, and neither was necessarily good.

Those that were fearless put themselves into danger because they didn’t realize they should be worried or scared. And those that were scared of everything and then some… well, they hardly experienced anything new at all, which didn’t help. A nice balance would be good. With the family he had, however, Jason didn’t know how long the ducks would last… “But it’ll be worth the trip, anyway.”

“I figure I may go home and start cooking dinner for my brother and Morgy… my freed house-elf.”

Freed house-elf. Grinning at that, Jason laid back on to the ground, his head resting on his arm as he thought about it. He was like a glorified house-elf, come to think of it… Wasn’t that what marriage did for you these days? Keeping his thoughts to himself, but finding the grin unable to be contained, he wondered what Fiona would think of that joke. Glancing to Covadonga, thinking about it, he frowned a bit. “What do house-elves prefer to eat?”

Come to think of it, he’d never really questioned the Hogwarts elves, and hadn’t had a run in since. Most of his friends didn’t have enough resources for one, and some were just downright against the entire thing. Personally, Jason wouldn’t mind it if he could get a little extra help around the house that didn’t involve owling Fiona’s mother over. At that point, he might as well fluff up the pillow for the couch. Voluntarily inviting her mum over… maybe he should do that for the weekend. Smirking, his eyes lazily rolled over to look at Covadonga.

“I guess I could come up with something pretty elaborate this early, eh?”

Glancing at his wrist watch, making a face, he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes as if she was a bit crazy. “If you start now, you could probably make an elaborate brunch…” Perhaps that was stretching it, but he was making a point. After checking once more on Aidan, who was now gazing out over the park with his sippy up to his mouth, Jason rolled over on to his stomach, making himself a bit closer to Covadonga. “Depends on what you feel like cooking though.”

“Thank you. I don’t know how much he’ll be into it…”

The witch couldn’t help but let out a simple laugh, “Ha!  Seeing how he went after that stationary stroller I am sure it would be interesting to test how he would go after something in motion,” but that was Covi, always interested in pushing something further, extending any experiment which had happened before.  It reminded her of that Nundu expedition back in Africa.

Looking rather introspective at the moment as the memories flashed before her eyes in chopped up slides she barely registered that he would indeed try to go to the ponds, only uttering a little, “Hmm…” in agreement.

As for house-elves, “Anything humans do, or at least that is the way Morgy is, I cannot speak for the population,” she answered without looking at him, still meditating on the scars, the victory, the rage, and the joy of that past.  It had been a very exciting time in her life, it went so fast…

“Ha! Seeing how he went after that stationary stroller I am sure it would be interesting to test how he would go after something in motion.”

Jason agreed, and with a laugh and nod at that, he thought about it a moment. He had made the choice to take the little tyke to see the ducks, and figured it would at least be cute to watch, if not entertaining. Aidan’s legs weren’t yet too steady, and Jason didn’t mind laughing… He would just have to keep an eye out for how close his son got to the water. They hadn’t yet started on the swimming with ducks lessons…

Jason noticed she seemed a bit preoccupied, and turned his attention to Aidan for a few moments, wondering if he was getting boring now. Smirking at that, he picked up a couple of blades of grass and threw them in his son’s direction, watching the little guy grin around his sippy, looking at the blades before going back to a deep gulp.

“Anything humans do, or at least that is the way Morgy is, I cannot speak for the population.”

Frowning slightly as he turned back to her, noticing how much she was out of the conversation, Jason sat up on an elbow and shrugged a little. “Well… that seems like a good thing, then.” Maybe he could call himself a really tall house elf then. Glancing at Covadonga, he raised an eyebrow and then pushed himself up to a sitting position.

“I hate to keep you from other engagements, so I think I’ll take the little guy to chase the ducks.” Now on his knees, he scooped up preoccupied Aidan and tickled him a little before putting him down on his feet. “Thanks for entertaining me, Covadonga. It was nice.” Grinning at her, he picked up the snack and sippy, using it to bring the suddenly irritated little boy towards the stroller once again.

Once he was all strapped in and had his things back, he was content. Turning back to her, Jason put his hand out to help her up. “Would you like a hand?”

Ah so their little conversation had come to an end.  Well, it was a bittersweet situation.  Covi found his presence almost… comforting.  Actually, she really didn’t know what to think of him at this point.  Honestly, she was a bit confused.

Grinning sedately she watched him be the good father that he was and tend to his child.  One could tell they already had forged quite a bond, the type a toddler and his father usually did not have for a few more years.

Covadonga smiled as he approached her at last and held out a hand.  With a nod of acceptance she curled her knees to prepare herself she took a hold of his forearm and he did the same, the steadiest form of helping someone up.  “Thank you,” she smiled as she wiped off the stray grass on her shoulders, sleeves, legs, and then her bum. 

Giving the last a satisfied pat before she wiped off her hands she held out one to him saying, “It was pleasant seeing you, Healer Marren.”  Once he had taken it she walked past him toward the stroller, and at the front she crouched and looked Aidan straight in the eye with a smile.  Leaning forward she gently gave him a peck on one of his pudgy baby cheeks. 

Covi walked by a little more before saying over her shoulder with a wink, “Hopefully we can do this again sometime,” before touching on one of the marked trails.  She finally disappeared as she checked her pocket watch, two birds swept down, one landed on her shoulder while the other settled on the top of her blond hair.

To her thanks, Jason merely smiled and nodded, letting her brush herself off with only a small glance before giving her and her dirty bum a moment to get situated. Then he noticed she was holding her hand out, and he turned towards her, blinking himself back to the present. Taking her hand, he gave her a hearty shake, grinning.

“It was pleasant seeing you, Healer Marren.”

“You too, Department Head Gertrudis.” She had to call him Healer Marren? Rolling his eyes slightly, he smiled as he took his hand back. “It’s okay to call me Jason, you know. I’m not really healing anyone right now.” Even at work, he tried to keep himself as first name basis as possible. It was easier for the patients to stay at your level when they knew you as ‘Jason’ or ‘Francis’ or whatever Healer they had. It gave it a personal touch.

He was also a big fan of making his patients feel more at ease. The hospital was a scary place, especially with all the troublesome issues people came in with. On the Creature Induced Injuries floor, some were scared they were going to turn into something different than they were prior to their attack or accident. Anything to help alleviate some tension and anxiety would make the healing process easier to deal with.

Aidan looked up at her, a bit confused as to why she was kissing him, but after a moment he grinned and giggled. Jason smiled at his son; he was going to be a ladies man, starting so young.

“Hopefully we can do this again sometime.”

Glancing to Covadonga, watching her for a moment, he stepped forward and laughed. “Do you hang out under trees often, Miss Gertrudis?” Biting his lower lip, he shook his head and turned back to the stroller. Making sure everything was in place, he started to push Aidan back onto the path, stopping now and again to pick up the tossed aside sippy. The games kids came up with… “We’re going to go see the ducks, Aidan! You’re going to love it…”