Title: Happily Ever Afters - Part 3/5?

Summary: It's been four months since Howl got his heart back, and Sophie is more than a little annoyed that the happily ever after that she was promised hasn't exactly occurred yet. As a matter of fact, Howl hasn't said a thing about it ever since. Cleaning, arguments, and misunderstandings ensue, and Sophie hopes there may just be a little romance along the way too.

Pairings: Howl/Sophie, Ben/Lettie, mentions of Michael/Martha

Warnings: Mild explicit content, discussion of sex

Thanks to Evara Silvaen, sailor winx, Junia Grey and halcyonish for the faves follows, and reviews!

I can hear your thoughts
Please don't leave me now
I can't sleep alone
Chasing the light until the dawn

Echo, Foxes

Howl turned his attention back to Sophie with a smile. "So sorry for the interruption. Where were we? Oh yes, now I remember..."

Sophie raised one hand and pressed it to Howl's mouth before he could kiss her again. "I need to talk to you."

He kissed the palm of her hand and then straightened up to let her move. Sophie adjusted her skirts, aware of how they were rucked up around her knees, and sat on the workbench. Howl hopped up beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her closer until Sophie's head rested against his shoulder.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

Sophie shifted slightly until she was looking up at him. "If you've felt like this ever since Midsummer... Why didn't you do anything? Say anything?"

Howl frowned down at her. "I kissed you, didn't I?"

"Only for the first few weeks, and that was it." Sophie narrowed her eyes. "No other mention of it at any other time. Why?"

"You didn't kiss me back!" Howl protested. "If you had, I would have done something!"

Sophie flattened her palm against his chest. "Did it ever occur to you," she commented dryly. "Even for a second, that it might have had something to do with the fact that every time you kissed me it left me completely unable to function for at least five seconds? For the first few times, anyway."

"Really?" Howl grinned down at her and Sophie felt a strange flutter in the pit of her stomach. "So, just to clarify... If I do this..." He tilted her head back and pressed his lips to hers. Sophie felt herself completely seize up again, just like she had every other time, too out of her mind with HowlHowlHowlHowl'skissingme to react for a good few seconds. This time, though, the kiss lingered for long enough for Sophie to come back to herself so she could curl her fingers into Howl's suit and deepen the kiss. This time it was Howl who broke it off with a breathless laugh.

"It takes approximately three and a half seconds for you to start kissing me back," he told her.

Sophie frowned at him. "It might not be as long if you gave me your full attention rather than counting the seconds."

Howl grinned back, twirling a strand of her red-gold hair around his fingers. "I have a feeling that another thing that might reduce that timespan is practice." He used the curl to tug her closer so that Sophie could feel his breath burning her skin - or that's what it felt like, anyway. "Shall we, my dear?"

Sophie let her eyes drift half-closed and tilted her head towards Howl's just as there was a thud from behind them. Kiss forgotten, she spun round to see Calcifer yet again settled in his hearth, adjusting the logs.

"I thought I told you to go away," Howl said with a frown.

"I did," Calcifer pointed out. "And I will again in a second. I just thought I'd remind you that you've got to go to the Palace tomorrow morning. Sleep would be useful. I'd rather not deal with you being grumpy, so I'd advise you to bring your little session here to a close, since you've both got places to be in the morning."

Sophie blushed bright crimson. "Calcifer!"

The fire demon just cackled and shot back up the chimney, and Howl brushed a curl out of her face. "You know, Sophie, you should remember that he was part of me for five years. We're altogether too similar."

That didn't do anything to lessen the redness - in fact, it just made it worse. "Howl, I don't think-" Sophie's words stuttered to a stop. Despite what she'd said to Lettie only that morning, she didn't feel anywhere near ready to take these new-found feelings with Howl to the next step.

He kissed her again, lips just brushing the corner of her mouth. "I'm not going to do that, Sophie, not unless you're completely sure. For now-" Howl carded his fingers through her hair and smiled. "For now I'll just kiss you goodnight."

As it turned out, the kiss goodnight was really quite lengthy - not that Sophie was complaining, of course. After Howl had finally made it upstairs, she pulled off her dress and slipped on her nightgown. Sleeping right next to Calcifer's hearth as she did, Sophie had never bothered to buy a thicker nightgown - a fact that, with the fire demon gone, she was beginning to regret. She wrapped the blankets tighter around herself and shivered for several minutes before she got anywhere near sleep.

Sophie was woken from her half-doze by the sound of the door creaking open. She sat bolt upright, clutching the blankets to her chest, and relaxed when she recognised the silhouette at the bottom of the stairs.

"Sophie?" Howl asked softly. "What is it? Did I wake you?"

"I wasn't really asleep." Sophie squinted against the darkness, trying to see Howl as he moved across the room. "What are you doing up?"

"I remembered the glass. I didn't want you to wake up in the night and stand on it." Before Sophie could quite process Howl's movements in the darkness, he was next to her bed. "Sophie, you look freezing."

Sophie laid back down and tugged the covers up to her neck. "Just a bit chilly, that's all."

"Nonsense." There was a shifting sound; Sophie could just make out Howl's movements but not clearly enough to see what he was doing. "It's snowing outside in Market Chipping, and Calcifer isn't here." He straightened up, a dark shadow against the dim light coming through the curtains. "Move over." Before Sophie could question what he was doing, Howl had pushed back her covers and slid underneath them.

"Howl!" she squawked. "What are doing?"

"Keeping you warm. Like I said, it's freezing in here. Besides, my room's cold as well."

Sophie could hear the smile in his voice. "Slitherer-outer," she muttered, but there was no venom in her words, and Howl just laughed.

They lay there for a moment, shoulder-to-shoulder, Sophie pressed up against the wall and Howl, she suspected, half off the edge of the bed. He didn't try to move closer, though, or persuade her to do anything, so for a little while Sophie just lay still, trying to get used to the sensation of having someone - of having Howl - in the bed next to her. She and Lettie and Martha had shared a bed in the past, of course, but even though the principle was the same it was somehow completely, totally different to the feeling of laying here next to Howl, even though they were barely touching at all compared to earlier.

It was the memory of earlier that finally prompted Sophie to turn her head and look at Howl. He was laid in much the same position, looking at her with a slight smile on his face.

"What are you thinking?" she asked softly.

"I'm thinking about you thinking," Howl murmured back rather surprisingly. "Or rather, the faces you make." The tip of his finger brushed her forehead, just between her brows. "You get a little line just here."

Sophie hummed slightly in vague agreement, feeling still not quite warm but very, very sleepy. "Howl," she said, forcing her eyes open to meet his. "I'm cold."

Howl laughed softly. "That's why I'm here, cariad, remember?"

What I need to remember, Sophie decided, is to ask him in the morning what cariad means. Right now, though, she was still too tired to verbalise the question so instead she just turned over onto her side and, slowly, waiting for a sign of assent, slid her arm across Howl's body until it reached his shoulder. His own arm wrapped around her back, pulling her closer, and Sophie sighed into him. Before any more adjustments could be made, she was asleep.