TITLE: Reunions
AUTHOR: Maid M
PAIRINGS: Howl/Sophie, what else is there?
DISCLAIMER: I don't own it. If you think I do, I suggest you get help.
AUTHORS NOTE: After reading CitA for about the hundredth time it still bugged me how cut down Howl's part was (I don't count him as a genie, for we didn't know it was him and he wasn't exactly himself) and how short Howl and Sophie's reunion scene was. I realize that the story was from an outsider's point of view so it made it harder to show their relationship but I still wanted more. So I wrote this. It won't be continued. Read and enjoy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks a bundle to FantasyLovingFreak for Beta-reading, Penny for reading the story and making none-commental noises, and the great Diana Wynne Jones for writing the book we call Howl's Moving Castle.
* * *
"Oh bless the girl! Thank you, thank you!"
Sophie Jenkins ran into the decidedly solid figure of her husband before even a little of the smoke had cleared. Howl laughed gleefully, swinging her around him as he cried into his shoulder.
"It's you, it's really you. Oh why didn't I know? Why didn't I realize?" Sophie pressed her hands to his chest almost as to see if he was really there at all, staggering slightly on the splintered pieces of glass littering the floor. "You're really here. Oh, Howl." She half sobbed burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm so sorry about everything I said. I didn't really mean it, you know how stubborn I get sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Howl raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Howl, I've missed you!" she said, once again burring her face in the lace frill of his suit, her arms wrapped protectively around his neck.
The wizard patted her comfortingly on the back. "I've missed you too, cariad."
Sophie looked up into his face and gave a definite sniff. With a sigh, Howl conjured a handkerchief out of his sleeve and made a large show of wiping of her face. He placed a kiss on her red and snuffling nose, thinking how the more beautiful it made her look.
"I must say, darling you've lost a considerable amount of weight since the last time I saw you."
"Howl Jenkins, you take that back!" She scolded, slapping him on his mauve satin arm. That didn't take long, did it, she thought to herself.
"I don't have to take anything back. It is simply the blatant truth." Howl said with a telltale grin. "Besides aren't you my wife? I'm the one you're supposed to love, honour, and obey."
"The day I obey you will likely be the day of the Apocalypse," said Sophie.
"But love?" Howl asked, almost too softly to hear.
"I believe I can do that." She smiled genuinely then, but it was quickly replaced the all too familiar face she donned before she was about to lecture him about something. "But just because I love you, doesn't mean I'll let you get away with saying those sort of things. Maybe in Wales it's all right to."
By this time, several princesses, an one-eyed cook who smelled faintly of squid and an old Strangian soldier had gathered around the pair, slapping the wizard on the back and trying to get his attention. But as usual in those situations, Howl's attention was concentrated on the small fair face of his wife several inches below him. He leaned in to kiss her again. She was just too tempting when she was yelling at him.
AUTHOR: Maid M
PAIRINGS: Howl/Sophie, what else is there?
DISCLAIMER: I don't own it. If you think I do, I suggest you get help.
AUTHORS NOTE: After reading CitA for about the hundredth time it still bugged me how cut down Howl's part was (I don't count him as a genie, for we didn't know it was him and he wasn't exactly himself) and how short Howl and Sophie's reunion scene was. I realize that the story was from an outsider's point of view so it made it harder to show their relationship but I still wanted more. So I wrote this. It won't be continued. Read and enjoy.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks a bundle to FantasyLovingFreak for Beta-reading, Penny for reading the story and making none-commental noises, and the great Diana Wynne Jones for writing the book we call Howl's Moving Castle.
* * *
"Oh bless the girl! Thank you, thank you!"
Sophie Jenkins ran into the decidedly solid figure of her husband before even a little of the smoke had cleared. Howl laughed gleefully, swinging her around him as he cried into his shoulder.
"It's you, it's really you. Oh why didn't I know? Why didn't I realize?" Sophie pressed her hands to his chest almost as to see if he was really there at all, staggering slightly on the splintered pieces of glass littering the floor. "You're really here. Oh, Howl." She half sobbed burying her face in his shoulder. "I'm so sorry about everything I said. I didn't really mean it, you know how stubborn I get sometimes."
"Sometimes?" Howl raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Howl, I've missed you!" she said, once again burring her face in the lace frill of his suit, her arms wrapped protectively around his neck.
The wizard patted her comfortingly on the back. "I've missed you too, cariad."
Sophie looked up into his face and gave a definite sniff. With a sigh, Howl conjured a handkerchief out of his sleeve and made a large show of wiping of her face. He placed a kiss on her red and snuffling nose, thinking how the more beautiful it made her look.
"I must say, darling you've lost a considerable amount of weight since the last time I saw you."
"Howl Jenkins, you take that back!" She scolded, slapping him on his mauve satin arm. That didn't take long, did it, she thought to herself.
"I don't have to take anything back. It is simply the blatant truth." Howl said with a telltale grin. "Besides aren't you my wife? I'm the one you're supposed to love, honour, and obey."
"The day I obey you will likely be the day of the Apocalypse," said Sophie.
"But love?" Howl asked, almost too softly to hear.
"I believe I can do that." She smiled genuinely then, but it was quickly replaced the all too familiar face she donned before she was about to lecture him about something. "But just because I love you, doesn't mean I'll let you get away with saying those sort of things. Maybe in Wales it's all right to."
By this time, several princesses, an one-eyed cook who smelled faintly of squid and an old Strangian soldier had gathered around the pair, slapping the wizard on the back and trying to get his attention. But as usual in those situations, Howl's attention was concentrated on the small fair face of his wife several inches below him. He leaned in to kiss her again. She was just too tempting when she was yelling at him.