Disclaimer: Although I sat and stared at the computer screen until blood appeared on my forehead writing this thing and it is in an of itself an original story, all things related to the Harry Potter series are the explicit property of J.K. 'get over it, I can do whatever I want because it's my story' Rowling and her 'we're only in it for the money' publishers.

Chapter Eleven: Sorting Things Out

A few weeks later Orion could practically hear the tidal wave roll through the office. An ambush, weeks in the planning, had failed completely. The Deatheaters had never showed.

Bale was simply prowling the halls looking for someone to blame. He was catching his share of blame from his superiors, and he was eager to share.

For that very reason Charly found himself dodging into his partner's office early one afternoon. He quickly slammed the door shut behind him with a sigh of relief as he heard Bale shout out someone else's name who hadn't been quite as fast to vacate the corridor.

Listening for a moment to the poor soul getting his ass chewed for some trivial matter, Charly turned a relieved smile to his partner. But it quickly faltered when he noticed Orion sitting at his desk, staring at the hutch in front of him. For all intents and purposes, Charly felt fairly sure Orion hadn't even notice him come in.

"Oy!." Charly called. "Black?"

Orion sat for a moment still staring into space before slowly turning his eyes to Charly.

"Tell me something." Charly said as he walked over to Orion's desk, seating himself on the edge of it. "Are there any more position openings for jobs like yours?"

"What are you talking about, Charly?" Orion asked in a slightly annoyed manner.

"'Sitting at the desk, staring into space'. Exactly how many positions did they open for that job?"

"What are you doing here, Charly?" Orion asked in the same irritated sounding voice as he turned back to his desk hutch. "I'm sort of busy right now."

"I can see that. So," Charly slipped off the desk and leaned against the hutch, "still thinking about Austria?"

Orion shifted his eyes back to the man. "What makes you think that?"

"Because that's the exact same look you had on your face the last time you were thinking about that mission." Charly leaned down a little closer as he studied his partner's face. But he suddenly pulled back. "Oh, cricky!" He exclaimed abruptly. "You're thinking about that bird of yours again, aren't you?"

Orion gave Charly the best puzzled look he could come up with. "Rupert?" He asked innocently. "No. He's fine."

Charly glared down at him. "The other one. That one you met on the mission."

Orion gave Charly a blissful sort of smile, then shrugged.

"All right." Charly stated. "What's going on with her now?"

Orion frowned as he settled back in his chair. "That's just it, Charly." He replied. "I'm not sure."

"Not sure?"

"This woman..., we have a great relationship, Charly. She's warm. She's funny. She's intelligent. She's absolutely gorgeous."

"Right, mate. She's breathing. I get the picture. So what's the problem?"

Orion sighed loudly. "Charly, I can't think of one reason....not a single one....that this relationship does work."

Charly stood for a moment staring down at Orion. "Pardon?"

"We have nothing in common, Charly." Orion explained. "Not one bloody thing."

"You must have something in common, mate." Charly suggested. "You've been seeing this bird for a while now. At least longer than most of your other ones."

Orion thought for a very long time, but then shook his head.

"All right," Charly offered, "what about.......work? Anything in common there? What does she do?"

Orion tried to look like he was thinking. Merlin's Beard! What a question for Charly to come up with right off. "Well, she sort of works in.......information."

Charly frowned at him. "Information? What is she? Some sort of a spy?"

Orion nearly choked. "No!" He stated quickly over a sudden cough. "She...works with....you know...computers." Orion admitted truthfully.

"Oh." Charly stated. "Well, you know those muggle contraptions pretty well, mate. Go with that."

Orion shook his head. "She already knows about my knowing computers. Trust me, she wasn't very impressed."

"O.K., then. What else? Does she have any hobbies?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"She does nothing in her spare time?"

"She doesn't seem to have a lot of that."

Charly frowned again. "Sounds to me like the bird is a workaholic, mate. Maybe you're better off without her."

Orion sighed to himself. "I don't know, Charly." Orion sat back in his chair again and crossed his arms over his chest. He stared into space for a few minutes before speaking again. "Charly, have you ever been love?"

Charly's eyebrows disappeared into his hair line. "Love?"

Orion glanced up at his partner's tone. "It's not a dirty word, Charly." He frowned at him.

"It has been with you." Charly stated. "Look, mate, you went from meeting this bird to being in love with her awful fast. Sounds more like a good old case of 'lust' to me."

Orion paused, then shrugged. "Maybe."

"No 'maybe' to it. Look, you just got done telling me you have nothing in common with her. How can you be in love with someone you know next to nothing about?"

"Don't you believe in love at first sight, Charly?" Orion asked him with a smile.

"No.' He answered bluntly. "Now listen to me, Orion, what do you really know about her? I mean, is she a muggle?"

Orion shook his head. "No. She's a witch."

"Well, at least you took the time to find that out."

"Charly, it's just......"

"It's just lust, mate." Charly cut him off quickly. "Go have a good roll with her and move on. The next one will be just as perfect for you. You'll see."

"I have thought of that, Charly." Orion replied dismally. "I've thought about ending it. About leaving her. About never seeing her again. But when I do....I just can't. I can't see myself that way. Without her. I'm just....I'm comfortable with her. Like I've never been with anyone else. I like having her around. I enjoy just being with her." Orion laid his forehead on his hands as they rested on his desk. "I just don't want to lose her, Charly."

"Do you think for some reason that you will?" He asked. "I mean, has she said something to you?"

Orion shook his head. "Not directly. But she told me once that all of her relationships eventually end. It's just the way things go with her."

"Did she say 'why'?"

Orion paused for a very long time as he slowly lifted his head. "She said....it was because she never had anything in common with those men."

"Uh oh."

Orion turned quickly to his partner.

"Woman sounds like she has a pretty definite pattern to her relationships, Orion."

"Well, I'd like to be the one to change that."

"Then you better get off your tail and start looking for something you have in common with this bird, mate. Anyway," Charly added, slapping him on the shoulder, "I'll see you in a few days, right?"

Orion looked up quickly. "What?"

"The mission, Orion. Wake up, mate. I've got that one-shot Bale arranged for me last week. Remember?"

Orion shook his head. Charly was right. He was dedicating way too much time to thinking about his relationship with Katlin.

"Blimmy, mate, I'd have been gone and back by the time you noticed."

"I'm sorry, Charly." Orion replied, glancing at him over his shoulder. "Good luck, all right?"

"See you in a few days." Charly replied, heading out the door. "Let me know how things are going with your bird then."

Charly barely saw Orion's parting wave as he headed out into the hallway.

In love!?

Charly quickly shook his head.

No. That wasn't right. It couldn't be. How could Orion be in love with a woman he just met? No. It was just like it always was with Black. He was simply a little more infatuated than usual with this one. That was all it was.

Charly sighed loudly to himself as he continued down the hallway.

He hoped beyond hope that was all it was. Just infatuation. A case of run-away lust on Orion's part. And there was hope, after all. He never said once that the woman had said she loved him. Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was strictly a relationship based on lust from both ends. And those usually ran their course pretty quickly with his partner and were over.

If not, Misser had done what he could to send the relationship on it's way to a quick demise. Orion usually followed his advice. And gratefully, usually without question. He was almost a hundred percent sure that Black would start up trying to find something he and this woman had in common. And after a few tries, he was bound to realize, as he already suspected, that they had absolutely nothing. Nothing in common, nothing to base a relationship on, nothing to hold them together.

And that would be the end of it.

Misser smiled to himself. Yes, Orion would thank him for this in the end.

Just like always.