Chapter 12.

Summer 1979.

"We went to the beach, we watched the sunset, I got this beautiful tan; it was essentially all I could have asked for."

Beth smiled as Caitlin reached down to take another bite of her sandwich. She'd been making attempts to pick it back up ever since their conversation about her honeymoon started, but no progress was ever made. Smiling wider, Beth watched Caitlin pick it up, bring it up to her mouth, before shouting "Oh!" again and placing it back down.

"Did I tell you about the drummer we met?" Beth shook her head no, though Caitlin had already begun to recount the story. "Okay, so we were walking down the beach on our first day there and this guy comes out of nowhere, right? He looks at us and goes, 'please, I need to find some dancers for my show.' Originally, Tom flat out said no and started to walk away, but the guy grabbed my hand and started begging me to help. I tell Tom to hear him out, you know, see what he has to say, and long story short, we ended up dancing on a stage in front of at least two hundred people."

"Two hundred people?" Beth repeated.

"Two hundred people," Caitlin nodded, her hands moving down towards her sandwich again. "Turns out people really enjoy watching people dance to drumming there. Who knew?"

"Was it the people living there or the tourists?"

"That doesn't matter," Caitlin replied, waving her hand. "The point is that there were at least two hundred people watching us, and it was exhilarating. It was all Tom could talk about for days."

Beth laughed, knowing that the chances of Tom being the one not being able to stop talking about it were slim. Caitlin took her laugh as encouragement, however, and managed to take a bite of her sandwich before beginning to talk again.

"Honestly, though, whenever you get married, at least consider going there. It was wonderful."

Beth smirked and reached for her drink. "I think I've still got a while to go before I have to start planning out my honeymoon."

Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you think so?"

"I know so," Beth responded immediately, pausing afterwards to take a drink. "I'm missing some crucial monumental events like becoming engaged. That usually leads up to it, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Caitlin replied, picking up her sandwich again. "By the way, who are those flowers from on your desk?"

Beth rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at her friend's comment. "They're from Sirius."

Caitlin nodded. "Right, so as I was saying, June is the perfect time to go there, and you could possibly dance for two hundred people."

Beth found her cheeks getting warm as Caitlin continued to poke and prod about their relationship. It had been nearly two weeks since Sirius had interrupted her and Remus' "date," and it had been nothing short of cliché how wonderful the two weeks had been.

It had all started immediately with a date to remedy the disastrous first one they'd had. James had been sitting on the couch, waiting for Sirius to arrive to give him the "have her back by 10:00" speech, which had been met with a surprising amount of sincerity on Sirius' part. James had tried his hardest to maintain the role of the strict father, but Beth had seen his resolve breaking. When they finally got up to leave, James' twinkle was so bright in his eye that Beth had been certain it would be visible from space.

The second the door had closed, Beth found herself tangled into Sirius' embrace. She couldn't have helped but smile at the feeling of his strong arms around her, and she giggled when he gently kissed her cheek. Grabbing her hand, he had led her to his bike with a large grin adorning his face, and Beth couldn't help but feel pride at knowing that she had put it there.

"So," Beth had asked as she snapped his extra helmet onto her head, "what do you have planned?"

Sirius had waved his eyebrows. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Well, I'd like to know whether or not it's going to end in as much of a disaster as the first one did."

Sirius had rolled his eyes. "Our first date didn't end in disaster, though."

Beth had scoffed as she had climbed into the seat behind him. "Do you need a reminder of how it went?"

"No," Sirius had said. "I just remember walking you back to Prongs' flat, both of us announcing we fancied each other, and snogging you senseless."

Beth had punched his arm lightly. "That wasn't a date."

She could have sworn she heard his grin before she heard his laugh, though she still wasn't sure how. Turning his head slightly towards her, he had argued, "Yes, it was," before revving the engine loudly and blasting onto the street.

Several minutes later, Beth had found herself standing in the very spot they had watched the sunset several weeks ago. Grinning at him widely, she had asked, "Is this supposed to be a recreation of that first time we came here?"

Sirius had smirked, bringing out a picnic basket from the small compartment on the back of his bike. "You think it's that obvious, huh?"

Beth had eyed the basket knowingly before looking back at him. "Oh, yes, I see," Beth had replied, the sarcasm positively dripping. "The picnic makes it an entirely different event. There's no chance at all this could be anything related to the first time we were here."

"Well, I'm glad you think that, because it's not."

She had raised her eyebrow. "It's not?"

Sirius had shook his head. "Our actual date will take place over there."

Beth had followed where his finger was pointing, her face furrowing into confusion when she saw the large wooded area in front of them. "Where?"

"There," he had repeated, waving his hand in front of them. "In whichever tree you end up choosing."

"Wait, what?"

Sirius had grinned widely this time, and Beth felt him absolutely bask in her confusion. "We're going tree climbing."

And tree climbing, they did. Beth looked at her hands as Caitlin continued to prod and make jokes about how she was the one who got them together. The calluses that had stood out so prominently the day after their date were almost gone now. Of that she was thankful, particularly for Caitlin not being there that day. She could only imagine the kind of jokes she would have had to endure about callused hands and new boyfriends.

"Has he taken you on any other dates?" Caitlin asked, reaching for her drink.

Beth nodded. "We went out to dinner a few nights ago. Most of the times we're together we're either with James and Beth or Remus, though. I'm meeting his friend Peter tonight, too."

"Are you doing anything fun after?"

"I don't think so," Beth replied. "He knows I have to be here tomorrow, so we try not to do anything too wild during the week."

"But on the weekends…" Caitlin said suggestively, letting her statement trail off with a wave of her eyebrows.

"Shut up," Beth laughed, reaching for her drink to try and hide her smile. "Is your sex life already so boring that you need to involve yourself in mine?"

Caitlin laughed with her, rolling her eyes comedically. "I mean, if you want me to talk about how bloody brilliant my husband is in bed, I can certainly—"

"No, no, no, that's okay," Beth insisted, raising her hands in surrender.

"Then tell me," Caitlin pushed, leaning further into the table and lowering her voice. "Are you getting serious with Sirius?"

Beth chuckled before shaking her head. "No, we're not doing anything."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not going to sleep with him to make you happy, you nut," Beth said laughing. "Plus, we hardly know each other!"

That wasn't entirely true.

Beth recalled a moment the two of them had shared in their fourth tree they'd climbed. They were both perched onto a branch facing the direction of the city, though their focus was unashamedly on each other.

"What do you think of this one?" Sirius had asked, swinging the basket hanging on his foot slightly.

"It's pretty sturdy," Beth had responded, knocking on the branch. "I think we could go higher up if we wanted to."

"But then we wouldn't get to watch the sunset."

Beth had turned her head towards him. "I thought you said that this was different from that time we first came here."

"It is," he had insisted, motioning his hand around them. "We're in a tree."

"Oh, excuse me for not seeing the shockingly obvious difference."

"Yeah, you would have thought you'd catch on to that after at most the third one we climbed."

Beth had let a small laugh out as she stared at the man sitting beside her. Taking in a deep breath, she had torn her gaze away from him unwillingly, taking a moment to absorb her surroundings. "This is fun."

"What is?"

"This," she had replied. "I haven't ever been on a date like this before. It's fun. I like it."

"I knew you would."

Beth had jokingly glared at him for his matter-of-fact response, and had seen him not even attempt to hide his growing smile. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really," he had stated, finally meeting her gaze. "I know you much better than you think."

"You know what you've heard from James."

"No, I'm just that good."

"Oh?" Beth had shifted so that she was straddling the branch, her whole body turned towards him. "Then prove it."

Sirius had given her that look again, and she had felt it land in the bottom of her stomach. She had met it with a genuine smile before she could even consider doing it, and had found herself entranced by the focused look in his eyes. He'd sat there for a moment longer before shifting himself too, taking great care to keep the basket balanced on his foot.

"I know that you love the color red."

She had shaken her head. "Take one look around my room and you'd know that. That's obvious."

"I know that you like horses."

"Every girl likes horses."

Sirius had shook his head. "My mother doesn't."

"She doesn't?"

"No, but that's too much of a story to get into right now." Beth had opened her mouth to push for more information, but Sirius had continued, "I know that you like to read."

"But do you know what I'm reading now?"

"The Glass Menagerie," Sirius had responded immediately. Beth had bit her lip in a useless attempt to hide her smile. "I actually picked it up and read a bit of it while you were in the loo earlier."

"Did you really?"

"Yeah, didn't hold my interest at all."

Beth had nodded, her smile now glaringly obvious. "What else do you know?"

Sirius had shifted forward, now less than an arm's length away from her. Beth had felt her breath hitch in her chest slightly at his proximity, but hadn't dared move away. "I know that you love Frank Sinatra but also The Beatles. I know that you like the rain more than you like the sun. I know that you order a salad simply for the croutons. I know that you like your eggs scrambled, fuzzy socks, and every time I reach for your hand."

She had looked down at her hands that moment, unsurprised to see them already joined. "I know," he had begun again, her eyes raising on instinct to watch him speak, "that you like playing with my hands more than you like simply holding them. I know that you like when I hold you a little tighter in my arms before I let you go. I know that you like when I brush a strand of hair behind your ear, but that you like it even more when my hand moves down to cup your cheek." Sirius' voice had become lower, as though he was trying to tell her a secret, and he had moved even closer to her to do the very action he just described.

"I know that you close your eyes if I move to kiss your cheek." She had found herself doing just that as he leaned in and did just that. "Or your forehead." Another kiss. "Your nose." Another. "Your shoulder." She had breathed in heavily. "Your—"

She hadn't let him finish, opting instead to spring her lips onto his, and had relished in how quickly he responded. She had leaned into him, throwing an arm around his neck while her other hand came up to rest upon his cheek, and she had kissed him, hungrily but calmly. His grip had tightened around her back, one hand sliding up to tangle in her hair, and she had moaned when his tongue met hers.

And that's when a large crash had been heard.

Quickly, they had sprang apart, looking around for noise before finally settling their sight on the ground below them. There had lied the picnic basket, the food unceremoniously spread out in a large mess. Beth had laughed loudly as Sirius put his head in his hands.

"It had to happen right in the middle of me trying to be romantic," he had complained.

"Hey, hey, hey," Beth had said, gently guiding his gaze back to her. "I thought it was incredibly romantic."

They had sat there for a moment more, simply taking in each other's gaze before Sirius had reached out and moved a strand of hair back behind her ears. He had been right. She did love it.

"I know that you like me," he had said quietly, never taking his eyes away from her.

She had smiled. "I most certainly do."

Suddenly, Beth's momentary flashback was startled when the lady with the pink pantsuit walked in, a large file that Beth immediately recognized in her hand. "Excuse me, Beth?"

"Yes?"

She held up the file. "Did you do this?"

Beth quickly met Caitlin's gaze, unsure how to respond. "Yes, I did."

The lady with the pink pantsuit nodded and looked down at it again. "Are you aware that this is not done in accordance with the procedure outlined for you to follow and that this makes the second time you have deviated from it?"

Beth gulped before nodding her head slightly. "I am, yes. I modified it."

"Why?"

The lady with the pink pantsuit was standing with her arms folded across her chest, an unreadable expression glaring across her face. Beth took in a shaky breath. "The procedure had me filing everything in an unintelligible way. I modified it to put everything in alphabetical order."

"Despite the fact that we've been doing it in the outlined way since the beginning of this company?"

"Yes," Beth said, trying to maintain a calm voice. "I talked with the other people in my cubicle, and they all expressed their hardship with trying to find the files needed. The system works, but this is much more convenient for the sake of the company. By doing this, I'm able to save the company as a whole more time since everything will be in it's prescribed place."

The lady with the pink pantsuit nodded solemnly before opening the file once more. Beth felt her heart sink into her stomach as she looked towards Caitlin, fear dancing in her eyes. Caitlin shrugged, though fear was splayed across her face as well. In silence, they waited for the woman to speak.

After several long moments, she looked up. "See to it that the remainder of the files are alphabetized. I expect it done before you leave today."

Beth closed her eyes briefly and let out a sigh of relief, nodding to assure the lady in the pink pantsuit that it would be done. "I'll start the second I'm done with lunch," she promised.

With a huff, the lady in the pink pantsuit walked away, leaving Beth alone with Caitlin. "Well, it looks like you did something right," Caitlin exclaimed happily, patting her on the arm.

Beth rubbed her hand over her face. "Yeah," she confirmed. "I guess so."

Caitlin leaned in towards her again, her voice no louder than a whisper. "I'll bet Sirius will congratulate you when you get home."

"Oh, shut up," Beth laughed, though she already knew he would.

A/N: Hello my beautiful, wonderful readers! I'm so sorry for the delay. It is completely unfair to all of you for me to be so behind with this, something I am going to work hard to rectify. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this fluffy chapter! Trust me when I say that the fluffiness of this one will be needed for some upcoming chapters. That's right my friends, we're entering a legitimate plot (dun dun DUUUUUNNNNN).

Nimblescrivener, what would I do without you?

Up next, the Marauders help Lily plan her wedding. How much free reign do you think she's going to give them?