In Which A Gift Is Recieved

Hmm…this is a nice surprise…

Howl smiled a little, propping himself up on his elbow and peering down at Sophie and leaning over towards her, gently brushing his lips over her ear, childishly blowing into it. Sophie mumbled something, writhing against him for a moment, protesting awareness to the world outside of her dreams. Howl kissed her cheek and she groaned, removing a hand from beneath the covers and trying to wave him away unconsciously.

"Wakey, wakey, Sophie." He whispered near her ear again.

"Hm? What is it?" she murmured, turning over and peering up at his covered window, the curtains were still dark, not a sliver of sunlight to reveal morning. Did he recover them or was it still night? "It's still night."

"I know." He smiled, "I just wanted to wake you up. Markl is home and I think he is wondering about us both."

"Markl's home?" she pushed herself up quickly, Howl leaning away to avoid being hit by her head.

"Yes, he made it obvious when he called for you." He said, pulling the covers away and moving over, climbing out as Sophie scrambled out of the bed and staggered across the floor, pulling her nightgown straight.

"I can't believe you talked me into going up there so early!" she said, pulling open his door and running downstairs.

Howl chuckled softly to himself, listening to the retreating thuds of Sophie's feet as she ran downstairs. He shook his head, amused by her silliness, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his thighs, running his fingers into his hair and pressing his forehead into his palms. His side stung with the tension from his bending over, the wound threatening to open again.

Straightening slowly, he touched his side gingerly, relieved not to feel the threat of wet coming through the bandages. He managed not to open it again.

"Master Howl!"

He lifted his head, managing to hide the wince and offering a slight smile to the child as he came through the door carrying a package in his arms. He stopped directly in front of him, holding out the package to the wizard, Sophie entering the room again after the child and smiling wearily over at Howl for a moment, she had accepted her silliness and he could tell she was regretting running downstairs in such a panic as she did.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the package, eying the brown paper like an excited child for a moment before he started to rip open the paper concealing the parcel from him.

"The Witch of the Waste said that it was a present for you and Sophie."

"A late wedding present?" Sophie murmured, arching her eyebrows. She didn't expect the witch to have sent them something what with how busy things were now and all…

Howl removed the lid to the box and peered inside, tilting back the lid and arching an eyebrow as he observed what was inside. He bit his bottom lip, lowering the box lid again and glanced over at Markl then Sophie. He shook his head slowly and stood up, handing the box back down to Markl.

"Hold onto this for me, Markl." He said, kneeling eyelevel with his apprentice, "But for now…you're going to bed."

"What?" Markl's face dropped. In the few years of service he had been in with
Howl, the wizard had never told him to go to bed. Markl had always gone when he was tired and not a moment sooner, what brought this on? Was it something to do with the parcel he had received from the Witch of the Waste? He peered down at the box in his hands, starting to lift the lid but Howl brought his hand down upon it, forcing it back down.

"Don't question me." He said but his smile made the order seem more like a joke.

"Sophie?" Markl turned to the former hatter with a pleading expression and she came forward, standing behind Markl.

"I don't understand why you're sending him to bed all of a sudden. What has gotten into you, Howl?"

He stood up again, bracing his hands on his hips, his right hand much lighter then the other one but the two confronting him didn't notice.

"If I didn't do it then Sophie would have. If I recall correctly, you tell Markl to go to bed on occasions, do you not, Sophie?"

Sophie swallowed.

"So why find it awkward when a master tells his apprentice to go to bed? I see it no different then when you do it, Sophie and I believe the apprentice is supposed to obey his master."

Markl frowned.

"There'll be a spell waiting for you tomorrow…" Howl bribed, beckoning Markl towards him and kneeling down once again. He cupped a hand around the boy's ear and whispered something to him that must have been an addition to the bribe for when he lowered his hand, the frown had been flipped upside down completely and the little boy's eyes were alight with excitement.

Howl tapped the boy's head with a knuckle, "Now go to bed."

Sophie was nearly tackled by Markl as he threw an arm around her and then disappeared out the door again, the slamming of his bedroom door proving the last sound they would be able to catch from him that evening.

As Howl went to the door, Sophie joined her hands together, twisting her fingers together as he pushed the door closed with an affirmative snap that signaled its complete closure.

"Why did you really send Markl to bed, Howl?" she asked when he slid his hand down the wood of the door and let it drop. He turned to her, still holding onto the same smile he had been offering to Markl as he braced his hands behind his back and approached her. "You can't get off with saying that it was because of my example. You wouldn't do something like that without a reason. A-And what was in that box?"

"A toy." He said, shrugging his shoulders as he stood in front of her with his voice a little haughty and his eyes glancing around the room.

"A toy?" Sophie released her hands but they were still rather close to one another, smoothing her nightgown a little as she followed him with her eyes, "Why did she send you a toy?"

He lowered his head, chuckling softly as he circled around her slowly, "She could have been playing with me and my childish nature." As he spoke he lifted his gaze to hers and stopped, turning his head to look at Sophie's face, a small knowing smile crept across his lips and he faced her again, stepping closer so that his bare feet touched hers.

"Or…she was giving it to someone else."

"S-Someone else?" Sophie asked, Howl brushing his fingertips over her cheek as he inclined his head.

"Someone we haven't met yet." He smirked.

Sophie jumped as Howl's hand rested on her waist and she started to look down as if to make sure that it was really her waist that he was touching when he tilted her face back up, catching her agape mouth with his and earning a surprised sound which he swallowed as he kissed her. The initial shock of being kissed so suddenly by Howl was not so big as it was for when she felt an exploring tongue. Her hands rested on his chest, fisting on the fabric of his shirt before she started to wrap her arms around him, his hands following her example but as Sophie tightened her embrace, Howl uttered a cry against her mouth and he pulled her away at arm's length, a hand covering his side quickly.

"Howl?"

"Don't worry about it…" he said, holding up a free hand, "It's nothing to worry about."

Sophie lowered her eyes to the hand over Howl's side, her eyes widening as she noticed the hint of red peeking out from under his hand. She pushed his hand away, grabbing handfuls of his shirt and tugging it up rather roughly, the wizard admitting defeat as his shirt was pushed up, exposing the generous amount of bandages wrapped around his waist.

"What happened?" she demanded, seeing the red patch on the bondage cloth.

"Nothing…"

"Howl, you're bleeding, you can't pass this off as nothing!" she snapped, glaring up at him, "And what's worse is that you didn't even bandage it properly, these are too loose." She pinched one of the strips of cloth between her fingers.

Sighing heavily, Sophie took his hand, "Come on, we're going to take care of this thing properly." She said firmly, guiding Howl back out of his room and down the hallway, her fingers were trembling in spite of her furious state and Howl couldn't help but smile at her thoughtfully as he was led into the bathroom and his hand abandoned so that Sophie could get to the cabinets and the boxes on the shelves.

"Where on earth do you keep the bandages?" she fumed, opening the cabinets beneath the sink and then above.

"In that box on the shelf to your left." Howl pointed out, Sophie pulling it down in seconds and removing the roll of clean bandages. She couldn't remember seeing them before when she cleaned the bathroom as an old woman…maybe he summoned some up to take care of the secret wound. A fine job he did on it and most of all, he had lied to her and said he was alright!

Having him sit on the edge of the tub, Sophie dropped to her knees, the bathroom floor chilling her knees through her nightgown and sending a chill up and down her spine as she held onto the roll of bandages and dug through the remaining contents of the box.

"Take off your shirt." She mumbled, not looking as he pulled it over his head.

"You should have told me you we hurt the moment you got home. That is one of the rules of being in a marriage, Howl. Honesty, in fact that is number one on the list!"

She unwound the loose bandages and set to work on the cut that ran from his hip to the middle of his back, it seemed shallow enough to not be fatal but deep enough to make Sophie mutter to herself in a rage and pinch Howl's side as punishment for lying to her. She muttered about obedience and loyalty along with honesty and trust as she wrapped the new bandage around him taught but not enough to squeeze him and cut off his circulation.

Gathering up his shirt from where he had put it on the floor, she held it up to him.

"I can't do anything about blood stains…so I'll leave this to you for clean—"

Howl rested his fingertips over her lips, his head lowered with his bangs hiding his eyes from her as his shoulders shook a little.

"I didn't want you to see them." He chortled, "I knew that you had a lot on your mind, Sophie…so I decided to take care of myself, like I used to."

"Fine job you did." She said; frowning but her cheeks were starting to burn as Howl lifted his head, catching her eyes.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked innocently.

Sophie turned her face away. "You worried me even more by not telling me." She said stiffly, standing up and smoothing down her nightgown again, her cheeks pink but her eyes closed and nose turned up slightly. Howl grinning as he too stood up and took her hands in his.

"Will you still sleep with me?"

"Howl!" she flushed deeper.

"I mean sleep next to me, in my bed." He laughed, "Complete innocence!"

She swiped her hands from his and folded her arms, turning her back to him; mostly to regaine her bearings rather then expose her anger. Howl tried to peer around from behind her but she turned her face away.

"Come now, Sophie…"

Feeling his fingers slip into one of her hands, she released her arms and gave into him like the sap she had become ever since she said "I do". She followed him back out of the bathroom, the lantern that had been left lit inside went out in a whisper of magic and the couple disappeared back behind Howl's door. This time Howl wasn't going to wake her, not even if Markl was pounding at the door saying the prince was there. Sophie was his and his alone. He wanted to make that perfectly clear tonight and the Witch of the Waste gave him exactly what he needed. A little boost in the right direction by reminding him that he was married now and if so desired…he had the potential to make Markl not the only child in the house.

Sophie climbed into the bed again, burying herself beneath the covers before Howl could even begin to dig for another shirt to wear. It was awfully uncomfortable to sleep in pants (as he had experienced earlier when he coaxed Sophie into going to be early) so without a shirt, he would not have much cover and therefore, making his wife nervous.

All the more reason why he abandoned the idea and hopped onto the mattress still in his pants and still maintaining his childish personality as he pulled the covers over his own head and wriggling down until he could turn on his side and see Sophie curled into a ball, peering over her hands at him with a gaze that betrayed her former anger and revealed her timid side once again. She wasn't expecting him to climb in shirtless.

Surprise!

"Don't be scared, I told you I wouldn't do anything, didn't I? So don't worry so much."

Sophie sighed, "Okay…"

"That's my girl."

So, here is your second chapter, my friend. It took me long enough to post it, but it's there. I hope it was ok, since I didn't proofread it, just cave it a title and a little A/N to take up space. Next chapter will be the one you were waiting for. I hope it turns out ok. I hope those who are reading this are enjoying the story! Until next time then!