I grabbed a hot cup of coffee and yelled, 'Sahad!'At the far wall. It slowly formed into a portal, and I scowled. My stomach rumbled, and as I headed for the opening, I grabbed a cream puff off a plate on the counter. Carter came running behind me, his face anxious and annoyed. "Sadie! That cream puff is mi-" he got cut off, seeing as I'd already stepped into the portal, and therefore closed off the connection. Funny, I felt as if he were still staring angrily at me. Or, not him, but somebody…and maybe not angrily, more like…amusedly. I yawned, scratched my head, and took a big bite out of my cream puff. I did not care about the someone staring at me amusedly. The person was out of the corner of my eye, but I refused to look at that person. I took a swig of coffee, then poured the rest out on a dead-looking bonsai next to me.

I was, judging to the appearance of the place, in the hall of judgment. This was I had intended to go, and for the reason of visiting a few relatives. My parents…and perhaps I could exchange some words with the person staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Ammit!" I called. I could hear the scratch of claws on the floor, and the poodle-sized demon trotted towards me. I fed him the rest of my cream-puff. Hey, human hearts? A tasty diet, but you gotta have some variation once in a while. After some thought, I fed him the mug my coffee had come in, too. He purred contentedly, and trotted off. The person was still staring at me.

I brushed pastry crumbs off my hands and walked in the direction of the throne room. "Anubis, stop staring. Go rip more holes in your jackets or something," I said, striding off. I thought I heard him chuckle.

After a nice visit with my parents, I headed off. It had lasted only ten minutes, since now that the hall of judgment was repaired, they had to work double time to fix things.

I was thinking about the person who'd been staring at me earlier. Two years had passed since we'd met, but I maintained a respectful acquaintanceship with him. Nothing more.

Suddenly I tripped over something. I cursed. I was now fourteen, old enough to not be a klutz. "Ugh," I groaned. Just as suddenly as I had fallen, a warm hand held me around the waist and hoisted me up. I looked up, and the sight that met my eyes made my heart go on overdrive.

Who else but Anubis? His warm brown chocolate eyes were like, really close to mine…and he had his arms around me...

I pushed him away and took a step back. "Hello."

He smiled at me. "Hi. I'm done ripping holes in my jacket. Why don't you try it on." He wrapped his black leather jacket, plus his arms, around my body.

"Hmm. No thanks. Smells like dog." I unwrapped his arms again and started walking. He slowly put his jacket back on.

"Sadie Kane, why are you being so cold to me?"

"Because I'm in a marble hall, and marble has a natural tendency to be cold." I arched an eyebrow at him.

He nodded. "Well, I find that reasonable."

I pulled out a wand and wrote 'sahad' in hieroglyphs in the air. A portal opened and I looked in at the majestic staircase that stood in Uncle Amos's house.

"We have casserole in the kitchen, if you want," I called back at Anubis, who looked extremely disappointed. I stepped into Brooklyn's Per Ankh.

"I don't want casserole," he said, sounding hurt.

"Then what do you want?" I asked, turning to face him. The portal had closed behind Anubis, and he was standing in front of a great looming papyrus scroll.

He got this really hungry look in his eyes, then, and he grinned at me. He didn't speak, but I knew what he wanted.

"Well, I want casserole," I announced, walking into the kitchen.

The sound of his footsteps followed me.

"Do you really intend to eat cold casserole?" he asked.

"Dude. I'm starving hungry. Anything would taste good now."

"Even me?"

I stopped walking but didn't look back at him.

"How should I know?" I muttered.

"I'll cook you something better than some lame casserole," he said, coming nearer.

I snorted. "Like you gods ever know how to cook. I bet all you do is snap your fingers and – "

"Actually, I do." He smiled sweetly at me. I felt my crankiness slowly melt a bit. "I do spend a lot of time in New Orleans, and the food there is awesome. Plus I can cook Persian, Indian, Egyptian, and lots more." He counted them off on his fingers.

"Can you cook British?"

His grin melted off his face.

I actually laughed. "That's fine. I do enjoy something other than buttered food."

He winked at me and grabbed a clean pan off a shelf.

"In some cultures, they use only one pan or pot to cook several dishes. The flavors enhance each other and end up being very good. Do you go for spicy?"

"Yes, I do. In fact, if it can make me cry, all the better." I said, hopping up to sit on a counter beside him.

He took off his black torn leather jacket and threw it on a chair.

And Ra himself shone down on me.

The guy was wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and I honestly wondered if he was going to take that off, too.

He smiled, as if he knew I was staring at him, and rinsed the pot out.

I knew I was in for a good meal.

He held out a huge plate heaped high with shrimp, vegetables, and rice. It was simple, but it smelled heavenly.

I grabbed a fork and knife and spoon and took my first bite.

And nearly passed out.

"Gods… that's really good, Anubis."

He smiled at me.

"C'mon; join me." he sat down and we ate in silence, but a comfortable silence.

Finally I came up for air, tears running down my cheeks since he'd added a whole lot of spice. I grinned at him.

Anubis looked at me with this look in his eyes that made me wonder if I was clothed in kibble, or something.

I leaned forward and kissed him softly.

He put his hand on my cheek and pulled me closer.

I'd watched enough chick flicks with Zia (she wanted to get a taste of 'normal' life) to know what to do next.

I opened my mouth and licked his lips slowly, because I was totally unsure of this.

His tongue peeped out, a little shy at first, but then he licked me eagerly and I squirmed. His tongue was wriggling and soft and wet. It wasn't as gross as I'd imagined. In fact, as seconds went by I enjoyed it even more. We went really slowly, sliding and slipping and making noises like baby seals, and Anubis was awesome. He was gentle and soft and loving and I felt myself give in to cheesy feelings.

"mmm.." I moaned as he sucked on my tongue. He smiled into my lips (I felt it) and pulled me even closer, so that I was sitting on his lap, but facing him. I left his lips and nibbled his ear, then went down to his neck and sucked hard. "Sadie…" he sounded really desperate. His pants were rising underneath me, and I grinned. We were on this big cushioned bench, so I gently pushed him down and resumed making out. He really tasted good, nothing like the meal we'd eaten together, and I was getting really wet. His tongue was sliding over, under, across mine. His hand was around my neck, but the other one had found its way to the bottom of my shirt. It was slowly edging up, past my navel, when Carter decided to stroll into the kitchen.

And he started to laugh.

Anubis flushed a deep red, and I glared at my brother.

He laughed even harder.

I stared intensely at Carter. He coughed and decided to get out of there.

I looked at Anubis, who'd propped himself up on one elbow. He was still blushing, a deep pink, and was looking away embarrassedly.

"Dude," I said, putting my hand under his chin and forcing him to look at me, "you were amazing. Nothing to be bashful about."

His eyes finally met mine.

"I'm in love with you," he whispered.

My heart fucking stopped beating.

I opened my mouth, but my tongue had stopped working. It was for the better, since I wouldn't have known what to say anyway.

"I am needed at the Hall of Judgment. I shall see you again soon," he said quietly, dissolving into a gold dust which flew out an open window.

I was left straddling a bench, in a state of shock.