Author's Note: This is pretty much a transition between the previous chapter and the rest of the story and contains Murphy/Harry aftermath. It's barely angsty; mostly fluffy and fun with only an inch of forward story movement, but hey it's my story. I promise more plot in the next chapters. This chapter is back to a T rating, but the M will stand because of the previous chapter and who knows maybe something later...(Please review )

CHAPTER 11

I woke to, "Harry, get up."

That was followed by a sharp poke in the side. I forced my eyes open and realized it was late in the morning. I gingerly lifted my head from the arm of the couch only to wince when I noticed the stiff neck. My left arm was hanging off the side of the couch and a large lump of purring cat was on my chest.

"Come on Harry, Molly was just here and I sent her out for some coffee, but she won't be gone long." Murphy stood looking down at me and poked me again.

"Mmm, what time is it?" I squinted at the door and guessed after ten.

"It's almost eleven. Now, get up. I'd tell you the shower was warming up, but since you don't have any hot water…" Murphy mumbled as she sat down across from me and bent to pull on her socks.

I pulled myself upright and started to stand, pushing Mister off my chest. The three claw marks he left behind indicating he wasn't too happy about his sudden departure. It wasn't until I was standing that I actually took a second to recognize I was completely naked, which after last night shouldn't bother me, but did.

As quickly as possible I made it to the bathroom and showered just as quickly, which wasn't difficult since cold water didn't encourage long showers. I exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped securely around my hips and took the steps to my bedroom two at a time.

While I buttoned up a pair of camouflage cargo shorts I tried to process what happened and what it meant. My thoughts and feelings were all jumbled up; shaken and stirred. Lost in my thoughts I barely heard Murphy come up the steps behind me.

I turned and saw her as she stood watching me from the top step. It wasn't hard for me to see that last night was heavy in her mind also.

"I had just got dressed when Molly knocked at the door." Murphy paused and tucked a wayward blond lock behind her ear, "I ah, told her we were working on a case and she should take Mouse for a walk then grab us all some breakfast and coffee while we finished talking."

I nodded, reached for my green t-shirt. I couldn't help speaking my thoughts out loud, "So, were you planning on sneaking out without talking to me?" The thought made me angry. I turned and pulled the shirt over my head and took a couple of deep breaths.

I was dreading to hear her answer, but needed to know. Call me insecure, but between my track record with women and my relationship with Karrin Murphy up until last night, I felt justified in my wariness.

I heard her sigh, and turned to see her shoulders slump a bit. She looked up at me and shook her head, a glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I was going to do." She paused, swallowed and took a deep breath before she continued, "I only knew I needed to put some space between us so I could think clearer. When I woke up, with you…and I felt so…ah with what we… …well I couldn't think of anything but what happened and so… Oh, shit this is harder than I thought …"

Her voice trailed off and she blushed. I bit back a smile trying to remember if I'd ever once seen Karrin Murphy blush at anything. I still didn't have my answer, but when I heard the door I realized I wasn't going to get it just yet.

Murphy jumped and all but tumbled down the steps. She was in the kitchen before Molly had hung Mouse's leash up by the door. I ambled down slowly and forced a smile to my face.

Molly deposited two iced coffees, a smoothie and a paper sack that smelled suspiciously like breakfast on my small counter. I could hear loud music from the one earbud that dangled from her neck. She smiled when my stomach growled loudly and pointed at the sack.

"Two bacon, egg and cheese bagels and a couple of muffins," Molly glanced at Murphy and shrugged, "I wasn't sure what you liked."

Molly grabbed the smoothie, replaced the earbud and with bobbing head wandered over to crash on the couch. I winced at her choice of seating and even felt myself harden when thoughts of last night suddenly crashed into my consciousness.

To distract myself I rifled through the bag, grabbing a sandwich and handing the other to Murphy. I didn't even offer the muffins, Murphy ate like a man. A grabbed a coffee. I was actually thankful it was iced, given the heat of the day, and as I ate I leaned back against the counter.

Murphy sat on one of the bar stools that stood by my counter. Since I didn't have a table the counter more or less served as prep space, storage and dining room. We ate in silence for a minute or two, but I couldn't stand it anymore.

With my back to the counter I stood facing toward Murphy. I put my hand over hers as it rested on the counter and gave it a light squeeze. She smiled and squeezed back.

"Regardless of what changes because of last night and the gods know I don't have a clue as to what might, there is one thing that isn't going to change." I waited until her eyes met mine and then continued, "You are still my best friend and no matter what I'm here for you."

Murphy smiled, really smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Harry. I'll admit I'm a little overwhelmed, even a little embarrassed." Color crept into her face again, "I don't really know why I let last night happen."

Her words stung and my disappointment must have shown on my face because she was quick to add, "Damn, that didn't come out the way I meant it to." She looked down to where still held my hand and then ran her thumb over my knuckles. "You and I both know what's between us, but we've both been able to deal with it, to stop it before it went any further than flirting and friendship. Last night something was different."

I glanced over to the couch. Molly was humming loudly along to something with very little actual melody, her head moving in time to the music only she could hear.

I flipped my gaze back to Murphy's face and nodded, "Yes, you felt guilty for trying to kill me, you were scared and you wanted to feel reassured. Most people would consider sex for any one of those reasons normal."

Murphy gave me an impatient snort, "Yeah, ok like I've never tried to kill you before, or I've never been terrified with you or needed reassurance before? Earth to Harry…life with you is constantly terrifying, I often actually want to kill you and, well just by being my friend you reassure me that the sun will rise tomorrow."

I smiled, resigned to knowing very little actual new information.

"OK, fine something was different." I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest.

I was willing to admit, for now anyway, that something had been different, because honestly, she was right we normally wouldn't have ended up fucking on my couch. But it still didn't change the outcome.

Murphy and I had forever changed the nature of our relationship. Even if we never slept together again it would always be there between us. If I didn't know how good chocolate was I would never crave it… and I was already craving Murphy. Realizing we weren't going to resolve anything now I went with humor.

"You couldn't at least give a guy a break? Maybe even a little ego boost? Are you sure it didn't happen because I'm just so athletic and sexy?" I waggled my eyebrows at her and brushed a chaste kiss against her temple before pushing away from the counter.

I had a lot of work to do and Molly, bless her little lying heart, was going to do mostly the manual labor kind. I informed her of just that by yelling to her from across the room.

She finally pulled the earbuds from both ears with an impatient, typically arrogant and teenaged, "What!"

I had yet to figure out how Molly managed to use such intricately complicated electric devices without problem, and if I hadn't already toasted two previous iPods, which by the way had each cost more than a month of groceries, I would have stalked over to her and yanked the offending ear pieces from her ears myself.

I pointed at Molly and then toward my lab, "You get to clean the lab," I held up my hand when she began to protest, "Which means you get to organize all supplies, ingredients, potions and books. Two potions boiled over yesterday and left sticky spots on the work table, so scrub that up and add a little polish. Little Chicago needs dusted," I eyed Molly critically, "carefully. I do not want a repeat of the last time!" Even I winced at the edge that had crept into my voice.

Molly put her iPod on my trunk and with head hanging like she was headed to the gallows gathered up the cleaning supplies from the small closet by the kitchen. She then made a show of stomping, in her two size too big tennis shoes down to my lab.

Murphy was eyeing me critically, "Aren't you being a little hard on her?"

"I don't think so Murph. The only reason she ever gets cleaning duty is if she does something stupid, like lie about where she is and why she's there. And the only reason she got that last little speech was because of her stupidity last time."

"Come on Harry, she's only a kid…she really means well I'm sure." Murphy chuckled.

I dropped onto my other couch and patted the seat beside me, "Come on and I'll tell you the story of Molly's last cleaning adventure."

I waited for Murphy to sit down. She was still sipping at her iced coffee and I could tell the heat was getting to her as she pressed the cup against her forehead for a second. Poor thing wasn't used to my air conditionless accommodations. I swallowed hard when she followed that up by pressing the dripping cup to the skin that rose just above the top of her black tank. I cleared my throat sat back and to distract myself started the story.

"Last time ended with a small explosion that demolished several Little Chicago buildings and sent Molly to the ER for second degree burns, which of course only gave Charity more reason to occasionally dislike me."

Murphy chuckled beside me, "Like she needs another reason, Dresden."

"Yeah, well at first Molly made up some lie about accidentally doing this or that, but after I reminded her of what was at stake, namely her neck and mine, she told me the truth. She had tried to execute a tracking spell to find a certain young Warden." I glanced at Murphy and watched her smile and roll her eyes.

"Her stupidity and limited knowledge probably actually saved her life. " I ran my hand through my hair as I continued, "Her first mistake was her lack of awareness that any wizard worth his Morton's can sense a basic tracking spell and will usually throw the spell back to the wizard on the other end. Most of the time all you would get is a nice little zap, a warning. But, hypothetically that zap amplified through Little Chicago could have been deadly."

"Her second mistake was transposing two important characters in the tracking spell. The spell she actually ended up using was a 'find me' spell. Most wizards only used a 'find me' spell when they desperately need help. It's sort of like a magical SOS. O course, this SOS was dutifully followed up on by the young Warden when he sent a strong tracking spell back to find the wizard in distress."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, uh-oh is right. Mix the huge amount of magic I infused into Little Chicago with a bounce back and the magic behind a strong tracking spell and well…boom! It wasn't five minutes after the explosion and guess who showed up at my door?"

"Carlos Ramirez," Murphy smirked then continued with, "Well, at least it wasn't Morgan. And I guess we could at least admit that Molly has good taste in men."

Murphy smiled and rolled her eyes at my feigned hurt look.

"Yeah, but Molly's explanation of, 'Harry…hiccup…locked me in his…snort…lab and I…sob…ended up exploding part of his model when…hiccup,' didn't go over well at all, especially as her sobbing and snorting got louder as I was picked bits of glass and metal off the burns. Of course the violet and red waves of anger pouring into my aura didn't help either."

"I'm sure." Murphy nodded sagely, and tried to keep a straight face.

"Really Murph, it wasn't funny at the time, particularly when I rather suddenly found my throat at the end of an extremely sharp dagger. Molly quickly backtracked and explained to Carlos what had really happened and he finally put the knife down and started in on Molly himself, only in Spanish which I doubt did much good."

Murphy was laughing now and the sound of it was infectious. I found myself laughing as I continued.

"Anyway, Carlos eventually agreed to drive us to the ER. He even called to explain what happened to Charity in an attempt to keep me from her wrath. I was only saved by two facts. One that Molly actually took full responsibility and two that she wasn't hurt too badly. Her left forearm had a three by five inch burn and three fingers were blistered. Her only permanent reminder is a small two inch scar just below the bend in her elbow."

"I guess all in all she was lucky." I paused and frowned a bit, "Unfortunately, young wizards always screw up and honestly, sometimes the best way to learn what not to do is to do it wrong the first time. One thing I can guarantee: Molly will never again fail to accurately use a tracking spell or a 'find me' spell. I also doubt she will ever use Little Chicago again without my express permission and supervision."

Murphy laughed and leaned toward me a bit, "So how many spells did you screw up when you were younger?"

I smiled and shook my head, "Come on Murph, how long have you known me? I still haven't stopped screwing up spells. And I'm not about to give you anymore dirt, you already know enough to make my life a living hell."

In spite of how the day had begun I realized I was really enjoying myself and I was thrilled to realize that our easy friendship was still intact. My thoughts were interrupted by Bob's sudden appearance. The look on his face told me it was time to get back to work and I wasn't surprised when his eyebrows rose and he cleared his throat.

"Ahem, Harry. Have you forgotten that you have bills to pay and faerie wizard changelings to track down, among other things, or perhaps I should expect to be homeless soon?" He glowered at me then turned toward Murphy and as usual gave her a slight bow, "Ms. Murphy, how nice to see you this morning."

"Cut the crap Bob, you and I both know I never went home." It was Murphy's turn to glower, this time at Bob.

"And how would you know that? Spying again, Bob?" I shot the ghost an angry look just as Murphy explained.

"Well he popped into the bathroom while I was in the shower…he said he thought I was you." Murphy looked from me to the ghost and back again.

I eyed my mentor critically and recognized his guilty look, which really wasn't much different than his everyday look of annoyance, but the added sputtering usually cemented his guilt in my mind.

Bob unnecessarily straitened his ascot and brushed imaginary lint from his heavy velvet coat then attempted to look appropriately abashed. "Fine Harry, I am found out. It is not as if you showed anything approaching restraint in either action or sound. I believe it is quite possible that the lovely older lady next door heard you." He nodded toward the wall to make his point, "Besides, you can't expect me to hide in my skull when I wasn't expressly forbidden to leave it, while you two cavorted about like Tristan and Iseult. I may no longer be flesh and blood, but I am still a man."

I rolled my eyes and was about to threaten and berate when Murphy burst out laughing. I looked at her like she had lost her mind, she was laughing so hard she was crying. She held up a finger in a silent plea for a moment and attempted to catch her breath while both Bob and I stared in disbelief.

When she finally managed to pull herself together she stood wiping her eyes then moved to stand just in front of Bob as she spoke, "I honestly find it hilarious that I have to actually threaten a peeping-tom ghost, but here goes. Bob, so help me if you ever and I mean ever do that again I will personally sell your skull to the highest bidder on eBay."

Bob dropped his head and actually looked contrite as he bowed, "While I don't quite know what an eBay is, I understand your anger Milady and you have my sincerest apologies. It was rude and inconsiderate and I promise it will never happen again."

Suddenly, Murphy turned on me. I still sat so she was able to glower down at me, her finger thrust in my face, which reminded me of the nuns at the school my uncle had sent me to. I had to curb my smile when she started in on me with the same tone the nuns used when we were appropriately naughty.

"As for you, Dresden, if you don't make sure that ghost knows to stay the hell away from me when I'm, well when we're…um,"

I interrupted her with an innocent smile and a suggestive tone, "When you're hungry? Angry? Needing me to scratch your back?"

"You know damn well what I'm trying to say Harry. So help me if you don't make sure it doesn't happen again I guaran-damn-tee you'll never see me hungry, angry or needing anything scratched again!"

I smiled and nodded then turned to Bob. "You heard the lady, Bob. You are now forbidden to hover anywhere nearby when Murphy and I are in flagrante delicto."

Murphy gasped, I chuckled and Bob stood up as straight as possible and nodded curtly in my direction.

"Very well, However, I still must remind you that we have plenty of work to accomplish and sitting here conversing is achieving none of it." Bob added quietly then vanished.

"As annoying as he is, he's right." I stood and looked at Murphy, who was obviously still a bit angry.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me, though I managed to resist the urge to actually pull her into my arms, and when she finally looked up at me I smiled.

"I'm really sorry about that. I usually ban him if I even think something might happen, he just took advantage of my lapse. It won't happen again, I promise." I traced my finger across my chest in the shape of an X, "Cross my heart, hope to die and by the way that actually means something to a wizard, so don't take it lightly."

I waited for her to smile back at me before teasing, "You do know that making Bob promise, 'never to do that again' implies there will be an 'again'?"

I didn't wait for her to respond just dropped her hand and walked toward my lab grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.