AN: Finals are done and my health is getting better. Ish. Eh, there are some speed bumps, but my eyes have been given the medical clearance for me to drive.

Reposted from my tumblr and AO3 account because 1. My brain is dead from a three hour final and 2. I am proud of this ficlet that xserpx requested. There's a nearly completed masterlist on my blog, if anyone's interested in reading more.

Disclaimer: If I was Jim Butcher, there would be less fridging of female characters.

Title:Ben and Jerry's Finest

Word Count: 987

Summary: Ice cream and a movie, what could go wrong?

"Richard's a dick," I said around a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. I let the spoon stay in my mouth, and happily closed my eyes as the taste of the cool sweetness spread over my tongue.

Murphy aggressively dug a spoonful out of the carton that was in my lap. "Fucking true!"

I never knew it was possible to grumpily eat ice cream, but Murphy did it like a pro.

Of course, she had many reasons to feel aggressive and angry and grumpy. Earlier today she'd stomped her way to the crime scene, fuming about the postcard that she'd received from her sister and her ex-fiancé-turned-in-law. It was one level of crap to find out about the relationship unexpectedly during a family reunion, but for them to get married and to throw their happiness in Murphy's face like that… I had to do something.

My original idea was to send a mild curse to Richard, but Murphy had vetoed my glorious plan of making his hairline recede faster. Her argument was something about ethics and the eventually of something terrible happening to him. If that was true, then I was just trying to make sure that the karma took sooner.

So, ice cream and a movie it was.

I had a vague idea of what we were watching. The protective circle that I'd drawn around me was doing a good job of making sure Murphy's new sound system would still work, but there were glitches. Small ones. Sometimes the volume on the TV would get low, or it would emit a strange high-frequency pitch, the screen would flicker, some static, too. I mean, I think the plot was about superheroes? Maybe?

Hey, being a wizard and PI meant that I never had the time to go see what the newest blockbuster was. I'm already a terror at drive-in movie theaters.

Murphy jabbed me with the handle of her spoon. "Put your thinking face away. You're here as a distraction and as a form of mindless entertainment."

"Is that all that I'm good for these days?" I removed my own spoon and scraped at the inside of the carton, trying to unearth that beautiful large chunk of cookie dough that would be mine. "Am I just a simple street magician to you?"

Murphy scoffed. "Wouldn't that be hilarious? Instead of you preforming miracles, it's all slight-of-hand."

"I would be so cool."

"Totally." Murphy gave me a strained smile. Her face was set with shadows under her eyes, and some of the blotchiness from her angry triad that she had not that long ago. Her expression became more pinched, and with her legs crossed in her lap (completed with an adorable pair of fluffy pink slippers on her feet) she fidgeted, her eyes flickering from the screen and back to me. "Hey, Harry?"

The movie's volume dipped into a low murmur before picking back up.

"Yeah?" I asked, freeing another piece of cookie dough. Score!

"Have you ever though about the future?" She pushed some of her golden hair behind an ear, tucking a knee under her chin. Murphy resembled less and less of the happy woman that I'd seen in the pictures of her when she was younger.

When did our lives turned so sad? I thought miserably.

"I try not to," I said. "Thinking of the future makes me think about sad things. Like my rent."

There was no sound of an escaped laugh, no twitch of smile.

I set the carton down.

"You're not going to be alone," I told her. "Hells Bells, Murph, you have me! Trust me when I say that I'm always going to be that constant annoyance in your life." I put on my bravest and cockiest smile. "Why, I'll be so annoying that someone's going to need an exorcist because we aren't gonna go anywhere without the other."

The TV hummed in agreement. It flickered black-and-white; the colors that flashed in between were highlighter bright.

Screw worrying about rent—I was going to have to buy her a new TV after tonight.

Murphy hugged her knee with one arm. "That bad, huh?"

"We'll be the worst," I promised. I gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.

She tugged on my grip. I almost created a Soul Gaze when my eyes nearly found hers. Stars and Stones—her eyes. Delusional hope like ours was always painful to dole out because of reality; but she needed it for tonight.

"I'm afraid of ending up alone," she said in a soft voice. "My sister just got married, my brothers are having kids—"

"Murphy."

"—one of the officers is now having grandkids. And here I am, bitter and alone while everyone else is creating a life for themselves—"

"Karrin."

She was standing on her knees, her hand still having mine in a tight hold. Our faces were close enough that I could make out the winter-faded freckles that she had over her cute nose, that smudge of mascara that was on a lower lash. My sentence evaporated as her head got closer—

And the TV's volume skyrocketed.

We jumped apart. Me breaking the chalk circle, causing the pent up energy to get thrown around her house. The effect was instantaneous—lamps flashing wildly, the crackle of potent energy in the air—and Murphy dove for the remote.

"Shut up!" she snarled, crushing the power button with her thumb. The TV went dark, not without groaning painfully in defeat first. The speakers attached to it huffed, and they release the most pitiful buzzing sound that I had ever heard.

We looked at each other again as the chaos settled after the lights browned once I was able to create a new circle for myself.

"You have ice cream on your lip." I gestured to the area.

"And you broke my TV." She sighed. "At least it's not the car this time."