A/N: Thank you all for your extraordinarily kind reviews and your follows/favorites/flamingos. This second oneshot is of a slightly different style–I hope you'll still enjoy it. Note that "Surprising" in "the business of Surprising People" is used as a verb, though it could be read as an adjective. (I hope that makes sense)

I do not own The 39 Clues series.

ii. raise your hopeful voice

He asks her what she's reading, which is odd to her because he's never really cared, at least, not that she's noticed. But she holds the worn book up and he silently nods his approval, which means that she can make another note on her mental list of Surprising Things Ian Kabra Does.

Although to be fair, Ian Kabra is practically the CEO of the business of Surprising People, so in an odd, twisted sort of way, she knows she should be used to it.

"She hated him at first," he tells her, after a moment or so of awkward silence has passed. "But you knew that, of course."

She nods, hoping that this emotional baggage they've been carrying around for years, this ... thing is why he's talking to her in this way. They've both changed, after all, haven't they? They're more mature, more hardened by the real world. Still there's a little weight in her chest, pinning the furiously flapping butterfly down so all she can feel is the little flutter every time she glances toward him.

He sits against the couch, right next to her on the floor of all places, and she raises her eyebrows slightly. She can feel the warmth of his breath on her neck and shivers begin their dance up and down her spine.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words which laid the foundation," she reads softly, cautiously, and before either of them quite knows how or why, their sides are pressed together in a way that is really all too intimate for Amy to think about without blushing. So she doesn't and just feels, feels the firm warmth of his side against hers, how they seem to fit nearly perfectly together (even though they don't, not really), how she thinks she could be perfectly happy like this.

"She hated him," she murmurs. Her eyes flutter shut and she focuses on the sound of his breathing, more comforting perhaps than it should be.

"She hated him," he repeats, running his hands through the ends of her hair. "And then..."

She stiffens as she feels his fingers trail down her back and her eyes fly open because today, Ian Kabra's business of Surprising People is doing quite well. Not that she's complaining.

"But things changed," she breathes, daring to glance up at his face. Her heart is still the butterfly, desperately wanting freedom but not quite, and her cheeks are still burning, and she can feel more clearly–the soft push of the couch against her back and his long fingers pressing gently against her side. And she doesn't feel like plain old Amy Cahill any more.

In a burst of sudden bravery, she pulls his head toward hers and closes the distance between them. Their noses bump awkwardly along the way, but neither of them really cares at all, not now, not when each of them has the other right where they want. He responds to her touch, holding her carefully, firmly, against his chest as her mouth brushes across his.

After some time, they pull away, trembling and blushing, and Amy wonders if this is how the lovers in all the famous stories feel, even centuries and centuries ago.

"Things changed," she repeats softly, lips still tingling and mind spinning.

"Yes." She can almost hear him smirking. "Quite."

A/N: The third and final oneshot will likely be of a more lighthearted style, more like the first.

Thank you for reading :)

-TimeTravel6