A/N: Wow! Another chapter. And it isn't even Christmas!
Well, folks, there's a reason. Mostly I'm buttering you up because the next chapter is insanely short. However, you get bonuses.
One, this is the chapter everyone has been waiting for. I hope it lives up to your expectations.
Next, chapter sixteen is insanely long and too cute for words.
And lastly, chapter seventeen is something you've probably been expecting and wondered where it was.
So, as always...,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I didn't do it. You can't prove it. The sheep are lying about it.
Summary: For weeks Charly has known his partner was seeing someone. He just never knew who. Tonight the inevitable meeting of Charly and Katlin.
Chapter Fourteen: Do We Kill Him Now?
Charly Misser sat on the bench at the muggle bus stop as a pair of pretty girls walked by, slowing down just enough to turn and smile at the two men. He turned to the girls with a friendly smile, but was stopped from going any further by a sharp slap on his arm.
"Hey!" He cried out indignantly as he turned to the man sitting next to him.
"Will you stop propositioning every muggle that walks by with that smile of yours, Charly?" The man stated in irritation. "I swear, I think you tried to pick up the last three men that walked by. Are you honestly that desperate?"
"Look, Black," Charly hissed at him, "just because your happy, doesn't mean the rest of us are. And quite frankly, I'm beginning to doubt this wonderful piece of fluff of yours is anything more than you getting very well acquainted with a blow-up."
"Why?" Orion asked, staring at the alleyway across the street. "Has yours' gone missing?"
"Oh, nice!"
Charly quickly checked his watch. "Look, if something doesn't happen in the next few minutes, the next bus'll be back along and we're gonna have to skip down the alley again. That'll be the third time in the past two hours, Orion, and I think people are gonna start talking soon. Either that or someone will have started to notice that we never get on the ruddy bus. Neither scenario I like much."
Orion muttered some incoherent response and settled back to staring at the pub across the street. He hadn't seen or heard from Katlin since she left his house over a week ago. Charly's mention of his 'piece of fluff' simply drove the separation home to him again and made him miss her that much more. A feeling that came out most clearly in his growing lack of patience at their absent targets. But as he surveyed the area around the pub, his gaze fixed on several people gathering on the sidewalk outside the doors.
"Heads up!" Orion whispered as he clandestinely jabbed his partner in the ribs under his coat. "Looks like company."
Across the street the three figures seemed to simply stand talking for a few moments before going in. But to the two Aurors watching them, the group's surveillance of the area was all too obvious.
"All right. That was it." Orion said as the group finally entered the pub. "Lets go."
Charly got to his feet and followed Orion across the street. The Department had learned of the possible meeting taking place at the pub between the members of two groups that were forming in the north who, although not officially members of Voldemort's Deatheaters, followed many of the same practices, and were interested in possibly joining forces together. The meeting was to be an initial contact, but little else, and Charly and Orion were sent to observe and get what information they could covertly.
Entering the pub, Orion and Charly found the small group quickly enough and took a booth near the back where they could work unobserved. There was also the possibility that the others had magical detection devices on them, and if the two were too close while working spells to eavesdrop on the conversation, they could easily be discovered.
Orion quickly set up the spell, then did his best to listen in. But the noise in the pub and the crowding of people between them and their targets didn't make for a very good connection, so to speak. As hard as they tried to listen, both men had a hard time making much out of the conversation past a few garbled words.
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Orion said finally as he sat back in exasperation. He got to his feet and started towards the table where the others were sitting. "Let me see what else might be available. Maybe we can just shift the spell and they won't notice."
Charly nodded slightly as Orion took to the floor. If there was a closer table, they might have better luck. Although shifting spells was a risky and unpredictable action, it was better to get five minutes of a conversation before you were found out than none at all.
Orion worked his casual best as he approached the table, trying to look like just another pub patron looking for a seat. But as he got closer to the table, he was nearly knocked backwards when the occupant of a table near his target suddenly got to her feet directly in front of him. With her back to him, she informed her companions she was going to powder her nose and would be back shortly.
When the woman turned to face him, Orion found he had to fight every instinct in him to keep his expression neutral.
Standing before him, looking for all the world like she was fighting much the same battle, was Katlin Griss. But she quickly forced her expression into a small smile and, stammering a hasty apology, hurried past him without a second look.
Casting a quick glance about to see if the encounter had been noticed by anyone, Orion turned on his heel and re-crossed the pub floor to the doors Katlin had just past through.
Not a soul in the pub would likely have questioned Orion's suddenly following after the woman. Just as no one would have missed how attractive she was or could have blamed Orion for trying his level best to try again to strike up some sort of conversation with her.
Orion quickened his pace as he entered the narrow corridor to the restrooms. But as he past by a small storage room, a hand reached out and dragged him quickly into the small alcove, barely taking the time to snap the small curtain back across the opening.
Orion almost reacted as years of training had taught him. Defend first, question later. But the pair of lips that covered his mouth nearly succeeded in driving any thought at all from his mind as they quickly went to work on his. Two experienced hands quickly focused on his shirt as they expertly worked their way through each button. But Orion grabbed hold of each of them in a firm grip as he pulled back, staring into the lovely violet eyes before him in the dim light of the small bulb overhead.
"What are you doing here, Katlin?" He asked.
"Why are you here?" She replied.
"I asked first."
"You're wasting time, Love."
"All right. I'll ask. You can nod or shake. Fair?"
Katlin considered the offer for a minute, then nodded.
"The meeting?" Orion asked.
Katlin nodded again. "Well, that wraps that up." She said, glancing at her watch. "You here with someone?"
"My partner? You?"
"Two others."
Orion didn't have to ask other 'what'.
Katlin was still checking her watch. "By my estimates, I won't be missed for another good five minutes. You?"
"I'm good for five."
Orion immediately found the soft, demanding lips back on his and the hands once again working on his shirt, taking up where they had left off. But this time he was all too willing and eager to help them as he mentally ticked off the seconds.
Five minutes meant five minutes. And he had few doubts they had certainly done their level best several times to see just how far you could get in how short of time. And with Katlin working every one of her more than ample charms on him, he was more than ready to try and beat the previous record. An effort that included discarding any arguments that might stand in their way and leaving them for another time.
He was at three minutes and forty seconds when the curtain next to them was suddenly snatched back.
Orion and Katlin both turned abruptly to find themselves facing an equally stunned Charly Misser.
Katlin paused before she turned to Orion. "So," she asked causally, "do we kill him now?"
At the words, Charly had his wand out, the majority of it concealed from view as he pointed it at the woman before him.
"Merlin's Beard!" He hissed quietly. "You're Katlin Griss!"
Orion reached out slowly and cautiously eased Charly's wand tip down. "Charly, now just hold on a second......"
Charly looked as though he was coming out of shock. "Orion! That's Katlin Griss!"
"I know who it is, Charly." Orion replied, still keeping his hand over Charly's wand tip. "I rarely get this far with people I haven't been properly introduced to. Could we just put the wand away for a minute?"
Charly made no move to lower his wand. "So," he hazarded a guess, "you're....arresting her?"
"Ohhhhh, that could be fun later." Katlin spoke up quickly, turning to Orion. "We haven't done that one in weeks."
Orion sighed quietly as he turned to his partner. "Charly, you remember that bit of fluff you've started doubting I have tucked away somewhere?"
Charly only managed a slight nod, his eyes never leaving the woman who stood smiling pleasantly before him.
"Charly, I'd like to introduce you to my bit of fluff." He said turning to Katlin and then back to Charly, each in turn, "Fluff, Charly. Charly, Fluff."
"Fluff?" Katlin asked with a smile. "I'm your 'Fluff'?" She grinned broadly at him. "That is so sweet."
"Fluffy as a frickin' French poodle, Love." Orion informed her as he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss.
The act seemed to snap Charly out of his current state.
"Love spell." He stated calmly. "That's what it is. Don't you worry, Orion, my boy. Have you fixed in a minute."
Katlin turned sharply to the man even as he brought his wand back up.
"A what!" She hissed at him.
"Charly...." Orion tried to warn him. But Katlin was already off and running.
"Now you listen to me, little man!" She stated in a heated whisper, punctuating each word with a finger prod to the chest. "I do not need Love Spells or any other cheap, fifth year's bag of tricks to get any man to follow me like a love sick puppy. So you can take your Love Spell and stick it right..........."
"Confundus then."
"What!?"
"Confundus charm. Easy enough to sort out."
Katlin turned sharply to Orion, doing her best to keep her voice low. "There is not one fiber of my being that doesn't want to kill him. Right.....now."
Orion looked like he was caught between a rock and a very hard place.
"I'm aware of that, Love." He replied quietly. "But he is my partner."
"What's your point!?"
"Well, he's good for conversation when things get boring."
Katlin let her breath out in a low hiss as she stared back at Charly, who wasn't quite sure what to do exactly. He knew the situation wasn't good, but, at the moment, no one seemed to be in danger of getting hurt. Well...., at least at the moment.
"So?" Orion asked, turning her face gently back around so that she was now staring again at him.
As soon as her eyes met his, her expression softened into a small smile.
"All right." She said shyly. "I won't kill him this time."
"That's very good of you, Love." He replied, giving her a quick kiss.
"I'm sorry." Charly spoke up suddenly. "What am I missing here?"
But Katlin was already readjusting her dress. "What time is it?" She asked Orion.
"Four and fifty." Orion answered her as he quickly rebuttoned the front of his shirt.
"I have to go or things could get messy." She replied, pulling out of the small alcove and trying to brush past Charly. But Misser quickly caught her arm.
"Hold on!"
Katlin reacted immediately to the hold on her arm. Grabbing hold of Charly's wrist in a painfully tight grip, she quickly went for her wand. But Orion seized hold of her wrist before she managed to slip one centimeter of the wooden stick out of her sleeve.
"Katlin." He warned her.
"They'll come looking, Orion." She told him pointedly. "And they can alert the others."
"Who'll come?" Charly asked, gingerly rubbing his wrist as Katlin released her hold on it.
"Deatheaters." Katlin informed him shortly. "More than you're ready to deal with. Now, you can let me go and we'll all have a pleasant evening of it, or," she added as a smile crept across her lips, "you can try and delay me further, in which case only I will."
Orion answered for them as he shoved her off towards the doors. "Go."
Katlin gave Charly one more warning stare before turning a much softer expression to Orion before hurrying out the doors.
Seconds later Charly found himself being dragged out the back doors of the pub into the alleyway. But a few feet down the narrow alley, he pulled Orion to a stop.
"Hold on." He stated firmly. "What are we doing out here?"
"The situation is too compromised to try and salvage, Charly." Orion replied. "We'll report back to the office, then head home."
But Charly placed himself in front of Orion. Even though his partner towered over his own five foot five frame, Charly was by no means a man to trifle with.
"And WHO compromised it?" He asked sharply. "WHO was snogging with the Deatheater in the closet back there?"
"Charly, you're getting way too excited about this."
"Excited? Orion, you were snogging with a Deatheater. And Katlin Griss no less. An Elite! Merlin's Beard! Couldn't you just have gone after Voldemort himself for that matter!?"
"Well, for one, I don't think either one of us would have enjoyed that nearly as much." Orion answered plainly. "And for another, you don't know the whole story, Charly."
Misser stopped short in front of his partner. "Well, my mission tonight just got called on account of 'snogging in the closet'. Subsequently, I've got time. So, why don't you start talking, and stop when I say, 'Oh, I understand now.'."
Orion sighed quietly and leaned against the wall of the building.
"Do you remember several months ago we had that fight with Voldemort's Deatheaters?"
"You mean the one where you got......?"
"Injured!" Orion spoke up quickly. "Yes. That one. Well," he pointed out, "Katlin was the one doing the injuring."
Charly stood looking at him for a second. "And this is your idea of revenge?" He asked. "That's twisted even for you, mate."
"Charly, it isn't revenge. All right?"
"No!" Charly stated firmly. "No, it's not all right, Orion. Dammit, man! She's a ELITE DEATHEATER."
"I know what she is, Charly." Orion replied calmly. "I've been seeing her for the past....."
Charly quickly covered his ears. "No!" He stated again. "I do NOT want to hear this. I am NOT hearing this, Orion." He glanced at his partner for a minute, then took his hands down. "Orion, for magic's sake, she is a Deatheater. You are an Auror. What is wrong with that?"
"Very little that we've found."
"Really?"
"Really. Look, Charly, like it or not, I am in love with her."
"Fine. I don't like it."
"You don't have to."
"Orion, this is your CAREER we are talking about here! You're going to throw all those years away for.....for THAT?"
Orion stared back at him.
"Fine." Charly stated in an exasperated tone, fanning his arms out. "You think you're in love? Wonderful. I'm happy for you, Orion. Really. Here's my advice. Shag her , arrest her, and be done with it."
Orion's lips twitched into the smallest trace of a smile.
Charly's face fell as he caught his partner's expression. "Or for the love of...........you're already sleeping with her, aren't you?"
Orion shrugged with a happy sort of smile.
Charly stood for a moment, then threw his arms up in the air as he walked off down the alleyway. "Fine. Throw away your career. See if I care. Bale will consider it the nicest gift anyone's ever given him the day he finds out about this."
Orion caught his arm. "Charly. Wait a minute."
Misser turned back to his partner.
"You're....not going to tell Bale, are you?"
"Now why would I want to make the idiot Bale happy, Orion?"
"Just checking."
"And I still have faith in you that you'll come to your senses on this one. I mean, Orion, that is Katlin Griss! She is Voldemort's top agent. She probably knows more about the Deatheaters activities than he doe..........." But Charly stopped suddenly. A smile quickly formed on his lips. "Oh......oh, you sly old boy. You had me going there!"
"Pardon?" Orion ask with a genuinely confused expression.
"You. You're using her to get information, aren't you? And getting some action on the side to boot? I stand in awe of you, Orion. I really do. A piece like that."
Orion frowned at the statement. "First off, Charly, no, I am not sleeping with her to get information. And for yours, Katlin and I never discuss our respective occupations when we're together. Secondly, kindly don't refer to her like that again. I'm pretty sure I'll take offense."
Charly reassessed the information. "Then....what? What's going on, Orion? What in heaven's name are you doing with a Deatheater?"
"How graphic would you like me to be?"
"As little as possible. Now what's the story, mate?"
"I told you. It's called being in love."
"Lust, Orion." Charley corrected him. "It's called 'being in lust'."
Orion shook his head. "No, I'm fairly sure it's love."
"Fairly sure?"
"All right. Absolutely sure."
"Orion," Charly tried again, "she is a Deatheater."
"I've heard that somewhere."
Charly sighed in exasperation. "She is Voldemort's top agent, mate. Now, maybe you're willing to throw your career away for her, but she's not willing to do the same for you."
"And you and Katlin had this conversation when?"
"Orion, she's a Deatheater!"
"Charly," Orion stated firmly, holding a finger up in front of him, "if you say that one more time...."
"She is not willing to forget all she is, all she has been for years, because suddenly she thinks she's in looooove."
"She has so far."
"Meaning?"
"Katlin and I never discuss business when we're together, Charly. When we're with each other, it's just us. Not the Department and not the Deatheaters. My bed isn't that big."
"What about her's?"
Orion sighed quietly in annoyance. Charly simply wasn't going to see this his way no matter what.
"I don't know what else to say to you, Charly." Orion said finally. "And it's not just Katlin, mind you. You have never liked one woman I've ever dated. I swear I'm going to start to think you're trying to keep me for yourself."
Charly stood in the alleyway watching his partner walk off towards the street, shaking his head.
"No, mate," Charly said softly, following after him finally, "I'm trying to keep you alive."
Orion stood waiting for him at the front of the alleyway. "Come on. The evening's shot. I'll buy you a drink."
'I don't want to go on about this, Orion."
Orion shook his head. "I swear, not a word."
Charly paused, then shrugged and followed Orion off down the street.
"Did I mention I'm in love with her?"
"Shut up."
Q&A
Just a quick note here, folks.
For all of you who might be disappointed that Charly never confronted Orion on lying to him about Katlin, he didn't because Orion never did.
Basically this was a 'Don't ask. Don't tell' situation. Charly never asked Orion directly who he was seeing. Therefore, technically, Orion never lied to Charly about it.
Did Orion feel guilty about not telling his partner? Yes. Did he lie to him about it? To my knowledge, no.
Semmel: Poor, poor little Semmel. Once again over-looked in the roll basket on the dinner table of life.
And ohhhhh, look what you got yourself! (*). One gold star!
That is for being more observant for most. For getting out your score card and looking at the progression of things. Yes indeed. Treaks told Charly to tell Orin about the meeting and to make sure that Orin gave the job to Orion.
Fortunately for Katlin, things didn't go quite as Treaks planned.
Man, you are good!
Thanks for taking the time to review.
Silverfox: Don't feel bad, Dear. PAR's name doesn't even show up in a search. Have no idea why.
As you can see, talking with Charly not only didn't do any good, but Orion could argue most points about his relationship with Katlin.
Headed for disaster? That remains to be seen.
I am so glad you liked the other chapter. It was very cute.
Is Bo the dragon? Yup.
Why isn't Tets afraid of him? Well, currently you don't know enough about Bo to understand any answer I could give on that. So all I can give you is a very convoluted 'he's just not'. (Somehow always saying, 'there's a very good reason for that' got old way back with the first three chapters of Family Relations.)
Werepup: Because I use to do this for a living?
And he was lying. What the hey!
Oh, that's all right. I actually like the little green irritant myself. Liked him enough to bring him back in Family Relations. Poor Harry.
All reviews are as of 08232003. If I missed you. Sorry. Let me know.
And remember...,
Women do come with instructions.
Just ask one.