A soft, pale light lit up Vivienne Thorpe's room this morning. It came in through the windows behind the bed and gave the place a kind of hazy, bleached quality. Like something out of a bad dream. The witch almost wanted to shut her eyes and go back to sleep when she'd woken up to this scene but that was hardly in her nature.

She remained still, buried underneath the duvet and staring at her ceiling fan sleepily... listening to the distant sirens of muggle London. Somewhere out there, reasoned the Healer, someone was probably dying. An anxious feeling tightened around her heart at the thought as she turned her head slightly to gaze at the figure next to her.

Ed Pratt, asleep on his front and half-wrapped up in the white blanket, didn't look very charming. His face was all smushed up in the mattress and his lovely blonde hair a matted mess. But Viv smiled anyway because -- silly as he looked -- he was still the idiot auror she'd been seeing for nearly a month now. They'd had a good time last night, hadn't they? Her memory was a fog of red wine and warm kisses, and something that may or may not have involved her bruising his lips. Unintentionally naturellement.

One of the sirens in the background cut off without warning and the smile disappeared. Almost on cue, she sat up, stretching as she did so and stifling a yawn. Good morning, London city. And what a morning it was. Vivienne glanced over her shoulder to take in the weather, which was mostly drizzle and cloud.

"Merveilleux..." she clutched her duvet to her chest, looking back into the room with a feminine little sigh. Would have been nice to wake to sunshine.

The loud siren in the background began to work its way into Edward Pratt’s conscious as he lay face down on a strange bed. It was comfortable here but one of the first thing the wizard noted as he slowly drifted back to consciousness was that it smelt different to his own sheets. It smelt familiar, like someone he’d seen a lot of recently. And it was warm, that was all that mattered as he lay there, slowly waking up, comfortably, taking his time. That was the problem with his job, he rarely got the time to slowly, comfortably wake up. He heard his alarm and he was up and out of the house in less than 20 minutes.

Suddenly a cold draught caught his bare back as the cover was pulled from it. It was accompanied with a quiet mutter in a language he didn’t understand, or just something muttered with an inability to correctly enunciate. Ed knew which almost instantly and he suddenly felt a lot more awake as memories of the night before drifted into his mind. The woman cruelly tugging the duvet from his exposed back was Vivienne Thorpe, the first person he’d dated for more than a couple of weeks that wasn’t his ex-wife.

The auror groggily rolled over to lie on his back and looked up at Viv with blurry vision. “Coocoo my cherry.” He proudly said with a croaky voice and a terrible accent for speaking French. He’d read the sentence ‘Coucou ma cherie’ in a book about a week ago. Apparently it was an endearing way of greeting one’s partner or family member. He would see...

"Coocoo my cherry."

Never, in all her life, had she ever heard someone so cheerily butcher the French language.

Vivienne moved around slightly to look down at... well, at her lover, she supposed. He stared back up at her with those groggy green eyes she adored and a glad expression. A grin broke across her lips as she realized what he had been trying to say-- mon dieu, she hoped he didn't try that line on anyone else. "Coucou mon amour," responded the witch in a strained voice: clearly, trying not to laugh.

Still smiling, she reached out and touched Ed's stubbled cheek with the back of her hand, "I would cling to l'anglais, if I were you." Or any other language but hers, she mused internally. Though it was sweet of him to try. Viv withdrew her hand and brought her knees up, attempting not to completely steal the blanket from him. She rested her chin on her cushioned knees, calm grey eyes dancing with amusement as she scrutinized the wizard: "You're adorable."

Not that words like cute or pretty or adorable ever went over well with Ed. But she couldn't help herself.

The grin was utterly infectious. There was no denying it was beautiful as well. Eddie’s lips transformed into his signature grin, copying hers. She looked marvellous there in front of him, her dark mane of hair tousled and eyes bright after a good night’s sleep. In fact Eddie was very certain his rest had been the best in months. Apparently sleeping next to someone like Viv had an excellent effect on the insomnia that normally plagued a stressed auror. In addition, she certainly made for something pleasant to wake up to in the morning.

The sexy barely covered witch before him responded to him in French and despite the fact Eddie didn’t understand it, he smiled contentedly. Well it wasn’t going to be anything horrible was it? And he could have sworn ‘amour’ meant something good. Something sexy. Maybe she wanted to go again? He’d wait until that was mentioned in English, save for issues in translation.

“I would cling to long lay, if I were you.” Eddie heard as she touched a soft hand to his cheek where the morning stubble had long began to form. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, resting them on the mattress. “Long lay?” That was quickly forgotten, however, as she trumped ‘pretty’ and called the hairy chested man in the bed adorable. Dark blonde eyebrows rose in mild surprise.

“I can forgive that this mornin’.” The auror croakily muttered before quick as a flash he reached his arms out and grabbed Vivienne, pulling her down on top of him. From there he was able to kiss her neck and grin against it. “Yet you, my dear, are the adorable one.”

Viv threw her head back slightly as she was grabbed by the wizard, hands at his shoulders as his arms held her down: “Yet you, my dear, are the adorable one.” He was ever so eloquent in his own language. She giggled before she could stop herself and then tilted her head down, pulling back slightly from his lips.

Even if she didn't really want to.

"If you keep this up, we'll never get out of bed..." Grinning down at him, she touched noses endearingly when their eyes met. The voice at the back of her head was being especially quiet this morning. It was a nice feeling. Vivienne brought her hand up to Ed's ear, brushing strands of blonde hair away and sighing softly: "And we probably should get out of bed, shouldn't we?"

The city was waking up. Even if her shift didn't start until late that evening, there were errands to run before hand... her grin faded before she kissed his lips lightly and turned her head away, curling up against his chest. Because he was so warm and the idea of leaving the covers was so cold. Ed Pratt was her human teddy bear, scars and all.

Why Vivienne felt the need to jump straight out of a warm comfortable bed next to her very handsome...boyfriend, was beyond Eddie. He was more than happy to stay in this bed with her all day even if it meant allowing her to call him adorable, his eyes pretty and his attempt at the French language cute. Alas unfortunately real life didn’t allow moments like this to last forever. Real life, Ed knew full well, snatched moments like this and replaced them with the horrors he and Viv saw on a daily basis in their jobs.

But for the moment without work to rush to for either of them, Edward was certainly not wanting to jump out of bed into the cold that filled the room. He was happy with Viv’s lips pressing against his with far more care and grace than they had the preceding night.  He was happy with her cuddling up on his chest, her long hair tickling his skin as silky strands fell across his torso.

Warm arms pulled the blanket she’d so carelessly moved back over their bodies before her wrapped them around the slim witch cuddled up against him.

“Why should we?” The auror asked quietly, resting his head back and smiling contentedly. He would very happily stay like this forever. “Does your husband get back later this mornin'? I wonder how he’ll feel seein' a much more attractive, rugged man in his bed with his stunnin' missus draped across his chest.”

Enveloped in cozy blankets once more, it was hard to think of a reason to crawl out of bed and away from her personal radiator. Breakfast could wait a little longer, the french press wasn't going to float away (or at least it usually didn't on the weekday, flighty thing).

Vivienne closed her eyes and smiled to herself complacently, cheek against Ed's chest and arm across his middle. She could hear his heartbeat and imagined that it sounded as tranquil in its rhythm as her own. He was talking again, in a quieter tone than usual.

“Does your husband get back later this mornin'? I wonder how he’ll feel seein' a much more attractive, rugged man in his bed with his stunnin' missus draped across his chest.”

At his mention of the word husband, the witch felt her body stiffen and the expression in her eyes tensed. Laying here in bed with a man she'd just woken up with... a familiar feeling that reminded her how close she had once been to actually having a husband. But that was years ago.

Her shoulders relaxed and she tried to sound amused: "Oh, I imagine he'd feel positively terrified," her fingers moved delicately to trace the scars that marked Ed's abdomen: "Especially when he realizes that the man I'm draped across is a big bad auror..."

Sometimes she doubted that even she fully realized the fact. Viv glanced up at the wizard, tilting her neck backwards to get a glimpse of his stubbled face: "So many scars, Ed. They would scare anyone away, non?" Examining all the damage on his body was a more sombre affair now than it had been last night. It made her leg scar feel tiny and insignificant.

Eyebrows rose as Eddie felt Vivienne’s fingers trace his skin. His sleepy green eyes shot down to her finger and despite the sensation mildly tickling, his brown momentarily furrowed. The scars peppering his torso came with a job like Ed’s. You didn’t manage a decade in red robes without a story to tell from the scars you had ended up with. The wizarding war had been the main cause for Ed’s collection, his innocence going into a big, terrifying war as a mere auror trainee. He’d learnt fast, but not without the bruises and injuries to go with the experience.

“Especially when he realizes that the man I'm draped across is a big bad auror...” Vivienne said something very sensible and Eddie did allow a small smirk to grace his lips. Arrogance definitely won over at this particular moment, and so it should! It wasn’t everyday that Edward Pratt had a beautiful French woman draped across him telling him what a big bad auror he was and how other men may be terrified. Words like that went straight to a man’s ego. Especially the ego of a man like Auror Pratt.

Studying Viv’s face, Eddie sighed and pulled her closer, cuddling this warm body to his chest. “I’m sure ye’ve sin’ worse. Anyway, this one, on my shoulder?” He nodded his head in the direction of a small thin line tracing a muscled shoulder. “That was a drunken broomstick ride.” A grin appeared. “Not all scary. Most just stupid.”

Injuries were what one got when running into a situation without back up, without fully preparing oneself for what could lay ahead. A lack of preparation and forethought had always been Eddie’s problem and many a time he’d paid the price in a hospital bed. But he would never change. People were alive, others in Azkaban or dead because he didn’t listen to orders and he charged in alone. Stupid, he knew. But he was happy to be in these situations.

The thing about working at a hospital is that when people assume you've seen worst, odds are you have. The fourth floor had received cases more severe than the ones Ed indicated but Vivienne tried not to think about it. She was also trying not to imagine him being brought  into her ward in a bloody state. It was easier to listen to him talk about it in the past tense, some distant projection.

"Not all scary. Most just stupid."

They received a lot of those cases on her floor too. She smirked up at him and then her gaze travelled down to look at his shoulder, hand moving to trace the scar absently. His body was a map of incidents. She bet she could read it like a map too... everything from falling off a broomstick to grappling with jailbirds. Viv laughed softly at the wizard's remark: "I'm not surprised. Aurors tend towards stupid."

And then, suddenly remembering herself, mutterred: "At least, maybe, some of them do." That was a mistake. For someone so painfully aware that her lover was an auror, she wasn't very good at keeping a lid on her opinion of their particular field. Her eyes flickered up hesitantly to meet Ed's gaze: "You know what I mean."

Somehow she doubted that he did.

“I’'m not surprised. Aurors tend towards stupid.” The witch wrapped up in Eddie’s arms softly chuckled and traced a slim warm finger across the scar he’d mentioned on his shoulder. The auror wasn’t exactly certain of the best way to respond to this, how to react to being informed most people in his profession would rather select a stupid action over a sensible one. Ed knew he’d done stupid things in the past, he did them regularly, but so did every other witch of wizard in the world.  He also did good things, he saved lives and he made sure bad people were locked up forever. He wasn’t sure he appreciated his ...woman’s misplaced comment.

Vivienne tried correcting herself and did rather badly. Now only some aurors were stupid. It was better but still not good enough. Aurors were the reason she could work in a violence free environment. They were the reason a fair government ruled the country instead of a bunch of corrupt criminals. Aurors maintained order and they saved lives. Ed wasn’t impressed with being told they were stupid. Even if it was by a scantily clad witch presently curled up in his arms.

Eyebrows knitted together as the blond wizard frowned. He pulled his head back slightly, resting it against the headboard of the bed and his eyes regarded her with a mixture of confused amusement and curiosity.

“You think all aurors are stupid, Viv?”

“You think all aurors are stupid, Viv?”

Almost immediately, she could feel herself wanting to shrink away from the wizard who had his arms around her. Vivienne Thorpe pulled up the blanket he had used to wrap them, timidly hiding part of her face underneath the material. That question... could have been answered on her behalf by anyone on the fourth floor and it would have been a resounding yes.

Her grey eyes stared up at her vaguely diverted sweetheart with a slightly sheepish look in them: "Non," came the muffled reply, "Not all of you... just... some..." The colour reached her cheeks and she cleared her throat: "Because, you know, some injured aurors can be very arrogant..." That sounded like it was the truth. He could sympathize with that, sûrement.

Then, nervously, Vivienne trailed her fingers away from his shoulder and down to another scar on his abdomen. She tried to change with subject, with all the social graces of a witch who often chose to avoid uncomfortable subjects: "It isn't important. Where did you get this from?"

Undressed and unprepared: these were not two conditions under which one should upset an auror. Or anyone at all, come to think of it.

“So,” Eddie began, bright eyes dancing with mild amusement as he watched Vivienne. He had registered the slick attempt to change the subject by selecting a different scar, thick and white across his chest. Unfortunately for the pretty healer lying across him, Eddie wasn’t about to let her change the subject quite so quickly.

She thought aurors were arrogant and Ed completely agreed that they were. He knew he could be arrogant, but one had to be. Aurors were the best of the best, you only got the job and remained alive if you were smart, quick and an excellent duelist. Knowing how good you were at these things was bound to lead to confidence. Without confidence an auror could get themselves killed.

“You don’t like aurors, or you think aurors are…arrogant” a small smile twisted this aurors lips as his hand brushed through her tousled dark locks. “yet here ye are, Viv, undressed” a sparkle most definitely sone in his eye, “and lying across one of these arrogant wizards.” Two dark blond eyebrows rose to allow bright green eyes to widen. “Vulnerable position to be in, no?”

After a moment, his blurry eyes darted to where her finger had traced and he pressed his thin lips together for a moment. That thick line had been been with him since his early twenties. From a time he would much rather forget.

“That were a death eater, lass.”

Waking up in a state of undress next to a handsome wizard- in her own home- did not strike Vivienne as a vulnerable position to be in. Or at least it hadn't until said handsome wizard decide to phrase it as such. He didn't seem to be disturbed by her dislike for aurors though, which was a small relief.

"Oui but I'm only as vulnerable as you are." The witch met his green gaze brazenly, smiling as she peeked her face out from underneath the blanket. As if to prove a point, she altered her position slightly and slipped her  other arm under his shoulder, by the neck. On the other hand... healers were significantly less threatening.

The scar. Her eyes narrowed at the look on Ed's face and then shifted down towards what had once been a life-endangering wound. Back then, during the war, most injuries were. "As impressive as it looks, then." Viv murmured as she traced it again with a more sombre expression. Not a position she wanted to imagine him in.

"I think we could use some breakfast" she said in an abrupt tone, "Something hot." It took some effort but she managed to unwrap herself from the blanket, pulling away from Ed as gracefully as she could. Even in the late summer, mornings were still cold in her flat. She wrapped an arm around her chest as she got to her feet and quickly found the auror's shirt from the night before: "I'll get the coffee started."

Vivienne turned around to look at the man in her bed, slipping on the shirt and buttoning it as she smiled down at him calmly. It was quite nice, not having to lie and chase a fellow out of her flat after they'd spent the night: "Come get me in the kitchen when you're awake, Eddie."

It was a grave pity when Vivienne pulled away from Eddie and untwisted herself from the sheet that had been keeping them both warm. Eddie very nearly audibly groaned as the sheet was pulled back from him and a cold breeze hit his chest. It, fortunately, didn’t bother him for long as instead after once more reclaiming the sheet, the green eyes became rather attentive, watching Viv as she took his shirt for her own and pulled it on. Two muscled arms were lifted and placed behind Ed’s head as he gazed up at her somewhat sleepily.

"Come get me in the kitchen when you're awake, Eddie." The shirt stealing minx gave her order to the auror in the bed and he raised an eyebrow. “Yes Ma’am...”he muttered, momentarily closing his eyes, an attempt to fight off the continued sleepiness. He hadn’t slept that well in a long time, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d not been awake at least half of the night. Why couldn’t they just stay here all morning and doze?

Unfortunately both were busy people. Eddie had a son to take shopping for Hogwarts supplies and Viv had...witches and wizards to heal. After a few moments the auror opened his eyes to find her gone. She was making the coffee she said. Ed secretly hoped she could actually make a decent cup or whatever they had between them was doomed and there was little hope of it going any further.

After summoning the energy, Pratt threw the sheet off him and spun his legs around to hang off the bed as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. A hand was slipped under his pillow and when it was pulled back a wand was gripped between his fingers.

“Accio glasses.” Came a gruffly mutter spell before a pair of black glasses soared in from the open door accompanied by a feminine yelp. A small smirk tugged at Ed’s lips as he covered his eyes with the thickly framed spectacles. Now for the difficult bit; finding something to keep him warm in Vivienne’s icy flat. Bright eyes scanned the room as they attempted to find a substitute for the stolen shirt.

And there it was; a large pink fluffy dressing gown. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. And therefore into the kitchen strolled a fluffy bathrobe clad auror, his hands buried in the pockets.
“I don’t think this is a fair swap...”

Grey, morning light came in through the open kitchen windows, accompanied by a light breeze that fluttered the white curtains. It was cold but Vivienne had long grown accustomed to the perpetual chilliness in her home, and quickly set a kettle on the stove. She was of the mind that beverages tasted better if brought to boil naturally.

As the water warmed up, she brought out the french press. It was its usual self, the metal press opening and closing at random, the glass beaker almost nearly floating away from her (only successfully on Sundays, of course). "Mon dieu," Viv complained as she gently forced the temperamental cafétiere down, back on to the kitchen counter: "Stay sti--"

The witch made a surprised sound, cutting herself off as she felt a sudden movement in the breast pocket of her borrowed shirt. A pair of spectacles went speeding across the room and her grey eyes followed it, accusingly. Ed was quite blind without those. Not that you'd know it, the way he was without them last night.

The kettle whistled and Vivienne turned off the stove, quickly scooping ground beans into her much calmer cafétiere before pouring in the water. Like some sweet perfume from heaven itself, the scent of coffee hit her and her lips pulled into a smile. She picked the pot up, turning around to set it on the tiny wooden table in her narrow kitchen.

... and then she almost dropped the damned thing.

"I don't think this is a fair swap..." grumbled her unexpectedly fluffy auror as he appeared at the doorway in her warmest (and, incidentally, pinkest) dressing robe.

Her smile froze for a millisecond and then, flagrantly, Viv broke into a peel of delighted laughter. "Jésus, Eddie!" The Healer finally set down the coffee, unable to pull her eyes away from him: "Of all the things I own!" It was a wonder he allowed himself to leave the bedroom.

His own brand of bravery. Vivienne walked to him, patting the man affectionately on the shoulder: "But you're right, it is quite an unfair swap," she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his rugged cheek lightly, "You look far more glamorous than I do."