AN: Hi everyone! So, I took some liberties with this one and decided to name one of the creatures, and make up a story for it too. Other than that, same disclaimer as always: I'm not J.K. Rowling and these are not my characters (no matter how hard I wish they were). This is all for fun, hope you enjoy it.
Porpentina Goldstein carefully climbed down the steps to the magical suitcase. She was looking for Newt who hadn't showed up for breakfast this morning even if he usually was up a lot earlier than she or Queenie was. The man was staying with the sisters for the third time now, the second time being right after his book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released. He had brought Tina a copy of the book as he had promised, and spent a few days with her and Queenie before he went on to promote his book around the country. Newt had returned for a slightly longer visit now that the fuss about his book had died down a little.
"Newt? Are you in here?" Tina called out as she carefully exited the small shed. She couldn't see any sign of the man anywhere, but his jacket was lying in a heap on the ground along with his bowtie. This confirmed Tina's suspicion that the man indeed was somewhere within the realms of the case, but where he was hiding was another question altogether. Tina started off by walking over to the Occamies and Bowtruckles. The beasts had already grown so accustomed to her presence during Newt's previous visit that they didn't really react to her anymore.
"Hi Finn and Tom…And Picket! I see you're here." Tina greeted the green stick-like creatures climbing a tree. "That if anything means that Newt's down here somewhere..."
Tina walked from one area to another looking for the man, but she still couldn't find him. She looked by all the water creatures, the puffskeins, the mooncalves…she even went back to the room behind the shed where Newt slept whenever he was visiting them. The small room only had a drawer, a small table and a bed. Tina looked at the bed and it seemed like it hadn't been slept in, either.
"Where on earth is he…" Tina was starting to get slightly worried. This was very unusual, even for Newt. He always told her in advance if something special was happening or in case he couldn't eat with them. She walked out of the shed and sat down next to Newt's jacket, when Dougal the demiguise walked over to her.
"Well, hi. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Tina said to the creature carefully and to her surprise it looked like it remembered her. It climbed into her lap and made itself comfortable there. Tina chuckled and tried very hard not scare the apelike animal away. They sat together for quite some time and Tina's mind soon wandered off to how she had ended up in the suitcase again.
As mentioned earlier, Newt had visited the Goldstein's in New York twice before this time. The first time was when the obscurus wreaked havoc in the city and the second time when Newt brought his book to Porpentina. During his second stay the two of them had done many fun things together. They had gone sightseeing, Newt had eaten his first hot dog and then they visited some famous wizarding shops. Tina had helped Newt take care of his creatures and she had listened to his stories about how he had found them. They had even stayed up late in the night talking about Tina's work with MACUSA and debated whether Ilvermorny or Hogwarts was the better school. All of this was good and fun, but when it was time for Newt to leave again they had departed under awkward circumstances, neither one of them really knowing what was going on between them. They had shared an awkward hug, Newt thanking Tina for her hospitality and her asking him to visit her again when he had the time. That was it, really. Newt had sent a few letters to Tina which she had gladly replied to, but other than that they didn't really seem like anything more than friends.
This visit started off just as awkwardly. Tina went to meet Newt at the docks and gave him another awkward welcome hug as he arrived. They had gone out to eat before they returned to the girls' apartment and after that they had just went back to the same comfortable chatting as usual. They played cards and drank brandy in the evening with Queenie, and fed the creatures together before bedtime like they had done the time before. In the mornings Newt would crawl up from his suitcase and go sit by the kitchen table and read his correspondence or newspaper until one of the girls woke up, or every other morning than today he did.
Other than those few awkward hugs, neither Tina nor Newt had really initiated any physical contact or brought up subject of their relationship. Both of them enjoyed the other's company, that much was sure, but somehow they just hadn't had the right mood or opportunity for anything else. The few times that they had actually touched each other, like e.g. when Newt helped Tina feed the merpeople, she had felt a nice tingling sensation where their fingers had met and she could've sworn that he had felt it, too. Neither one of them just hadn't had the courage for intiating anything…more.
Tina sighed and looked down at Dougal. "So…what should we do now. Just wait for him here or take another look around?"
The demiguise seemed to understand what Tina meant and he climbed out of her lap, grabbed her hand and pulled her towards another direction.
"You know where he is?" she asked Dougal in relief. "Show me where to go."
Tina followed the demiguise as he eagerly pulled her forward until they reached the Nundu enclosure. Dougal stopped a bit away from the trees shadowing the edge of the area, and looked up at Tina.
"He's in there?" Tina asked pointing towards the place where the big beasts usually stayed.
Dougal gave her a low murmur in response and headed back towards his basket.
"Well of course he is…" the woman grumbled. The area where Newt was right now, was strictly off limits for everyone else. The Nundus were big leopard like creatures with inflatable throats, which when inflated resembled a puffed up blow-fish according to Tina. Nundus were very dangerous and had extremely toxic breath when threatened. They were so dangerous that wizards rarely survived an encounter with them, Newt being the exception of course. The Nundu in his enclosure was rescued by him as a cub and it had grown very fond of him since. Newt knew just how to act around the animal and what to do, but that didn't help Tina too much in this situation.
"Newt, are you in there?" she shouted as she tried to see past the high grass. There was no answer.
"Newt, you missed breakfast and I was wondering whether you were hungry…" Tina called out and with a deep breath she took a few steps forward with her wand at the ready. As she got closer, she could see that Newt's waistcoat was hanging on one of the lower branches of a tree. It was ripped and covered in blood.
"Oh no." Tina took a few hurried steps and ran into the grass, not caring about her own safety anymore.
"Newt, Newt where are you?" she yelled as she pushed the grass away from in front of her. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the man lying flat on his back in the middle of the enclosure with one of his arms covering his face. His clothes were drenched with blood and he wasn't moving.
"Newt?" Tina whispered, but the man didn't reply.
"Oh god, Newt…" she mumbled as she stumbled forward, crashing on her knees right next to the man. Still, the man didn't react to her. She reached out to move his arm away from his face, but she stopped right before she touched him. What if he was already cold or worse, what if he was still alive but she couldn't help him?
Tina could feel the tears already burning behind her eyelids as she took a deep breath and slowly placed her hand down on Newt's arm. To her surprise, he was warm and only a second after her touch, he instantly sat upright and looked at her with a groggy expression.
"What, what's going on? What… Tina, are you okay? What's wrong? " Newt asked in confusion as his eyes focused in the look on Tina's face. She was pale and shaking, and almost looked like she was about to cry.
"You…you were asleep?" Tina asked in utter disbelief and fell back to sit on her behind.
"I suppose I was. What's wrong Tina, did something happen?" Newt asked in concern and crawled up to her.
Tina didn't say anything and only gestured at Newt with her wand. Newt turned his head down to look at his clothes and only then did he seem to understand what Tina was so shaken up about.
"That happened." she said and let out a shaky breath. "You didn't show up for breakfast."
"Oh no, I'm so, so sorry. I must've fallen asleep because you see, Erline – the nundu, had a cub last night. Nundus only give birth every ten years or so, and with all the commotion about the book I somehow didn't know that she was expecting a little one. Which of course is quite unheard of considering everything, but her roaring woke everyone up last night, so I came here and only then noticed what was happening. It was quite a tricky delivery. The cub was in a bad position you see, but everything luckily turned out alright." the wizard rambled on excitedly and rose to his feet. He offered his hands to Tina and helped her get up from the ground. He pulled her towards the entrance of a small cave formed by several big boulders.
"Look, there! It's a male, a real fighter! I think I'll call him Fane." Newt whispered as he pointed at the two creatures lying in the shadows, the mother licking its young cub. Tina looked at the beasts in silence for a few seconds before she turned to Newt. He just stood there looking at the felines with enthusiasm and fascination, which was more than Tina could take right now. She quickly turned around and stormed off towards the shed.
Newt being so surprised by the witch's reaction, didn't follow her at first. He just stared at her retreating form until he suddenly realized that it would perhaps be wise to go after her.
"Tina?" he called out as he tried to catch up with the witch who only sped up as he got closer.
Tina was running now and soon she tried to open the door leading to the steps out of the suitcase, but the door had somehow jammed shut. This was just her luck she thought, when she saw Newt approaching from the corner of her eye. Not knowing what else to do, she ran around to the other side of the shed and went into Newt's room, closing the door behind her with a loud thud. She could hear Newt arriving at other side of the door.
"Tina?" the wizard carefully asked, not daring to open the door.
"I just need a minute, Newt." Tina answered with a stern tone.
Newt didn't answer her, but she could hear him walking away and soon she heard splashing of water on the other side of the wall. He must've went to clean himself up.
Tina slumped down on the edge of Newt's bed. She was feeling both exhausted and relieved at the same time. Those few seconds of seeing him lying there all covered in blood had been something of the worst things she had ever experienced. She rested her head against her hands and before she knew it she was crying. The soft sobbing soon turned into loud bawling and no matter how hard she tried to calm herself down, she just couldn't.
She didn't really know how long she sat there, five, ten or fifteen minutes, when the tears finally stopped falling. She felt stupid, she hadn't cried like that in years. She pulled out a handkerchief from her pants pocket and dried her tears, before she blew her nose. Her face must've been so puffy now she thought, before she tucked the handkerchief back in her pocket. Porpentina tried to brush down her hair and tucked it carefully behind her ears before she stood up. She had to get out of the shed some time, so she thought it would be better for her to simply to get it over with.
The witch braced herself, promptly opened the door and peeked out. To her relief there was no sign of Newt. She sneaked over to the other side of the shed and tried to open the jammed door again. This time it opened with ease and as she stepped in she saw Newt standing there changing his shirt. The bloody shirt from before was lying in a heap on the floor, while the clean white collar shirt he was wearing now was still hanging open. He had rolled up the sleeves and he was just about to button the lower part of the shirt when she had come bursting in.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have barged in like that." Tina apologized as the blush crept up to her cheeks. She tried to avert her eyes from Newt and his bare chest, but the man himself didn't seem too phased about her walking in on him.
"It's quite alright. How are you feeling?" the man asked, looking at her with concern.
"I'm fine. Just tired, that's all." Tina lied and stared at her hands that were fumbling with the hem of her shirt.
Newt took a small step closer to the woman and he was just about to say something when Tina noticed the cut above his left eyebrow.
"You're bleeding!" the woman exclaimed and raised her hand to touch the man's forehead. "Are Nundu claws or fangs poisonous?" she asked in a panicked voice.
"Small cuts aren't that bad. They only sting a little for a while." Newt answered matter-of-factly as he studied Tina's face. He could see that she had been crying.
Tina took out her wand and touched the cut briefly. She mumbled something that Newt couldn't quite comprehend and within seconds the cut was gone, no trace of it left. The witch put away her wand and raised her hand back up to check the man's forehead.
"It should be okay now." she answered calmly as she let her fingers linger on the spot that had just been bleeding. Luckily it wasn't anything a minor healing incantation couldn't fix. Tina carefully moved her hand downwards to the man's eyebrow and from there she slowly moved her fingertips to his temple, checking for any further cuts or bruises. She let her fingers trace Newt's cheekbone and gently she slid her hand lower along his face until her fingers reached his jaw, from where they slowly traveled up to his lips. Tina looked at the small freckles that surrounded the man's lips, covered his cheeks and nose. She had never had the chance to look at them this closely before. Looking up at the Newt's eyes she suddenly realized what she had been doing. She flinched and closed her eyes, but didn't move her hand away. Instead, she decided to open her eyes again.
Newt stood still in front of her and looked her straight in the eye, just as he had done a few seconds ago. He barely blinked as he tried to figure out what Tina was up to; she could tell that by the way he eyed her. It was the same way he studied his beasts, when he was trying to understand how they behaved and what really made them tic. The man slowly parted his lips to say something again, so Tina moved her hand away from his face. Newt didn't say anything though, just closed his mouth again and continued staring at Tina with his curious eyes. The colour of them was somewhere in between hazel and blue, Tina noticed now. The color was almosy changing as he studied her.
Porpentina's eyes traveled to Newt's chest and it was only now that she noticed the array of scars that covered his body. She had always known about the scars and burn marks on his hands, but they were nothing compared to the big ones across his lower arms and abdomen. She looked at them in horror and her mind filled with terrifying what-ifs and maybes. Tina could feel the tightness building up inside her chest again, that same mix of panic and anguish that she had felt before when he was lying on the ground. She carefully touched the biggest scar on his left arm and let out a trembling breath.
"Tina?" Newt whispered worriedly.
Tina turned her face up to Newt and saw that he felt relief as she did. He covered her hand that was on his arm with his and gave her a small, but reassuring smile. Tina felt her heart skip a beat and that was when she felt a wave of realization hit her. This was it, she thought. This was the reason she was so upset.
The look on Newt's face quickly turned into one of worry again.
"Are you okay?" Newt asked hesitantly and tightened his grip of the woman's hand. She had gone a shade paler again.
I'm such an idiot, Tina thought and that was when she unexpectedly leaned forward to kiss the man. Tina pressed her lips firmly against Newt's and felt like this was what she was meant to do. She held on to Newt's arms for balance, but she didn't try to move closer to him or anything like that. She could feel the man's muscles tighten underneath her hands, but other than that he did nothing to return her actions.
Tina pulled back from the kiss just as quickly as she initiated it, but she didn't let go of Newt's arms just yet. She was still lingering for more closeness and contact with him. She looked at him as he bit his lower lip, but he didn't say or do anything else.
The witch felt the lump forming in her throat. Now she had done it, he didn't want this after all, she thought. She slowly let go of the wizard's arms and turned around to walk away. She tried to suppress the disappointment in her voice as she told the man that she was going back up, albeit not very successfully. She only managed to take a step before she felt a strong grip around her arm, holding her put.
"Wait." Newt mumbled.
Tina could feel her heart rate spiking, but she reminded herself to keep calm no matter what the wizard was going to say. There was no point in making everything uncomfortable for them. She turned around and saw that the wizard had a absent look in his eyes, and he seemed very confused.
"Why did you do that?" he asked in a somewhat accusing tone and looked up at her.
"Why?" Tina answered with a hollow laugh. "You're asking me why I kissed you?"
Newt stared at the witch, still waiting for an answer.
"Wel...I did it because I wanted to." Tina said truthfully. "…because I needed to."
The man still didn't say anything and continued to stare at Tina with a confused look on his face.
"Newt, this is getting really uncomfortable. I need to go." the woman added, trying to pull her arm away. He wouldn't let her.
"Why did you need to? Newt asked, looking very serious as he did. He took a step towards the witch. "Explain to me."
"What do you mean explain? I just… I like you. I have feelings for you, okay?" Tina finally blurted out.
Newt looked like he had been petrified when she uttered the words. Tina felt really embarrassed, but thought that now when she had already blown her cover, she might just as well get it all off of her chest.
"I have so much fun with you every time you visit me. I love spending time with you and just now I… I was so scared earlier, you lying there all bloody and I just wanted to be able to kiss you at least once before you actually get killed by one of your haphazard socialization experiments with your beasts! Don't get me wrong now, I love the way you are with them and how important they are to you, but you just completely forget about protecting yourself when you study them. You can't go risking your life anymore, there are people who wouldn't be able to go on in case anything happened to you!"
Realizing how much she had actually said, Tina closed her eyes in regret. This was just one of those days when nothing seemed to go the way she had planned. Before Tina actually had a chance to do anything about the annoyance of it all, she felt a small tug on her arm and soon after that a pair of lips on hers.
She opened her eyes and saw nothing but a familiar cloud of red-brown hair in front of her. She closed her eyes again and slowly she started to realize what was happening. Newt was kissing her! As Tina got over her confusion, she slowly raised her arms around the man's back and kissed him back, fiercely. He pulled her closer to him and ran his fingers though her thick hair as he did. Tina held on to Newt like her dear life hanged upon it, like she would seize existing if she stopped. Newt moved his lips hungrily against hers, almost pleading for more with every movement he made. Tina felt like her head and heart was about to explode right there and then, it just felt so...right! It was so different from any other kiss she had experienced, so natural. Neither she or Newt cared about their insecurities or what others thought at that moment, just about the two of them being there in that little shed. Slowly and reluctantly the couple broke apart, slightly panting for air and touching each other's faces as they did.
Newt gave Tina a breathtakingly beautiful smile and bit his lower lip as he carefully leaned his forehead against hers. Tina returned his smile and shyly stroke his cheek with her thumb.
"This is the first time anyone has said anything as nice to me as you just did." the wizard whispered and cautiously caressed Tina's neck. "I am so glad that you said those things, otherwise I'd never had known what you thought."
"I meant everything I said." Tina whispered, still a bit confused about how the two of them had ended up like this.
"I just, it's hard to be with humans. There are certain ways you are supposed to act and talk, and it just… it's never simple. Except with you." Newt added as the blush started creeping up on his cheeks. He shyly wrapped his arms around the dark-haired woman. "I'm sorry. I'm not any good at these things." he mumbled against Tina's shoulder, trying to convey his feelings.
"You're doing just fine." the witch answered and pulled the still half-dressed man a bit closer to her.
"Tina...may I kiss you again?" the wizard asked innocently, trying to hide his fascination with the new activity.
Porpentina chuckled. "Yes you may Mr. Scamander, yes you may."