A loud rushing sound echoed in Sirius's ears as his eyes cracked open. Where was he? What was going on? The first sight to greet him was that of Sadie gently removing some sort of material from around his bare chest. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth as her eyes wandered over his skin, her fingers lightly tracing seemingly random patterns along his upper body. He felt himself shiver ever so slightly. This had to be a dream.

At the movement, Sadie's head turned sharply to look at his face, a most curious mixture of emotions overtaking her features: Surprise, then immense relief followed quickly by some embarrassment and apprehension. She quickly removed her hands from his chest, much to his disappointment, and assumed a carefully neutral expression.

"You're awake," she breathed, and there was no disguising the complete and utter exhaustion in her voice. "How do you feel?"

Sirius frowned in confusion at the question but took a moment to quickly scan his body and figure out how to answer her. He was sore, he realized. Ridiculously sore. Everywhere. He bit back a groan of pain as he attempted to sit up, and Sadie was there in an instant. She used one hand to help support him while the other quickly slid more pillows beneath his head, shoulders, and upper back. Soon he was laying back in a reclining position, her hand resting absently on his chest, and he closed his eyes against a wave of nausea.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," he mumbled. Sadie immediately snatched up an empty bowl and a vial of some kind of potion from the coffee table. She helped him to turn slightly onto his side and placed the bowl just next to his face, rubbing his back and whispering soothingly as he wretched into it. Nothing came up; his stomach must have been quite empty, but he spent a good couple of minutes dry-heaving before his body decided to give up. He collapsed back onto the pillows, closing his eyes once again and taking deep shuddering breaths. He felt Sadie's hand slip gently behind his head to raise it slightly, and she patiently coaxed his mouth open to poor a few drops of the potion down his throat.

"For the nausea," she explained quietly. The potion tasted like peppermint, and he relished the fresh taste and feeling it left in his mouth. "Give it a couple minutes to take effect, and then you really should try to eat something. You've been out for hours." For the first time, there was a slight tremor in her voice, and he opened his eyes just in time to see her take a shuddering breath and look away from him. "I sent Daisy with a note to Mum and Dad, but I'm not sure how long it will take to get there. Until then...I think I've gotten you patched up enough that we don't need to take you to St. Mungos."

The nausea was already abating. Sirius frowned in confusion. "What...happened?"

Sadie kept her gaze fixed determinedly on her hands in her lap. "I got a note from..." She hesitated. "Well...from Regulus saying that you were in danger." Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "I got there as quickly as I could, but...Bellatrix had already done a lot of damage." Her voice was becoming higher and shakier as she spoke. Ignoring the pain that it caused, Sirius forced himself into a sitting position and reached out to tilt her chin up to look at him. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and her lower lip trembled as he peered at her in concern.

"Hey," he murmured. He still had a lot of questions, but that was no longer his priority. "You've done amazingly. Thank you."

That did it. She let out a choked sob, and suddenly her arms were around him, face pressed into his neck as she tried in vain to stop her tears. "I'm s-sorry...you're the one who's h-hurt, and here I am..." Sirius tightened his arms around her and buried his face in her hair, unsure how to tell her that just being able to hold her again was exactly what he needed. "I was j-just so...so scared! Wh-what if I hadn't d-done enough and..." She gave a shudder. "And to th-think we'd sp-spent the last couple m-months fighting because of some st-stupid kiss..."

Sirius shushed her gently and pressed his lips to the top of her head. It took a while for her to calm down, but eventually her sobs had slowed and quieted to soft, occasional hiccups. Still, he didn't release his hold on her, continuing to run his fingers through her hair; he was not ready to give up finally being this close to her again. He wasn't sure how long they sat like that, but he still felt an aching loss when she finally pulled away from him to give him a sheepish look.

"Sorry," she mumbled again. "I...I understand if you still don't want anything to do with me..."

"What are you talking about?!" Sirius asked sharply. She blinked at him in surprise. "Have you thought this whole time that I was mad at you for not having feelings for me?" Sadie opened her mouth, a completely baffled expression taking over her features, but he didn't give her a chance to respond. "Merlin, Sadie Mae, I've known forever that you don't! I've liked you since bloody first year, and sure, I've always wished that you liked me back, but I'm perfectly happy being your friend if that's all you want! Anything is better than this awkward not-speaking-to-each-other business!" He was ranting now, and he knew it, but he couldn't get the words to stop pouring out of his mouth as she gaped at him. "Are you seriously telling me that you've been avoiding me because you thought I was upset with you?! I've been avoiding you because I thought that I'd screwed up our friendship by letting you know that I've got feelings for you! I thought you were mad at me! I thought-MMPH!"

To his complete bewilderment, she had suddenly launched herself at him and was kissing him fiercely. A funny little noise escaped the back of his throat, but it was muffled by her mouth on his. Her hands were in his hair and then running up and down his chest and then grabbing onto his arms and pulling them until they were securely around her waist. That broke him out of his startled reverie, and he forced himself to pull away from her, staring at her with wide eyes.

"What in Merlin's bloody balls...?"

Sadie let out a strangled sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "You absolute dolt!" Her eyes were shining, and she looked as though she couldn't decide whether to kiss him again or hit him.

"Excuse me?!" He spluttered indignantly.

Seemingly deciding on the latter option, she grabbed a pillow and wacked his chest with it, making him wince just slightly. "I kissed you!" Another hit with the pillow. "You're the one who pulled away and then ran off!" Another hit, only this time he was ready and grabbed it from her.

"Ow, Sadie!" He tossed the pillow aside and rubbed at his chest, frowning deeply at her. She seemed to suddenly remember his condition because she let out a gasp.

"Oh Merlin, Sir, I'm so sorry! I didn't even think!" She gently drew his hand away from his body so that she could inspect it carefully, but he waved her away. A small spark of hope had ignited in his chest, and he was not about to let this conversation go unfinished.

"Sadie..." he started hesitantly. "Are you...? Do you...? What are you saying?"

A huge smile lit up her face, and she reached up to brush a stray strand of hair away from his eyes. "I'm saying that I'm completely smitten with you, you dingus."

That was all Sirius needed to hear. In an instant, he had pulled her to him, crushing her lips against his. His hands were cupping her face, and he was kissing her desperately, almost frantically, and absolutely relishing the little whimpers that escaped her throat. It wasn't enough though. With a small groan of impatience, he moved his hands down to grip her hips and pull her until she was straddling his legs. She let out a quiet gasp but didn't complain. Her hands once again found their way into his hair, and he had to fight down another groan at the feeling. He allowed his hands to run from her hips down the outsides of her thighs and back up again, realizing with a jolt that she really wasn't wearing much; a pair of very short shorts and a thin tank top.

"Merlin, help me," he thought weakly as he broke away from her mouth to trail kisses along her jaw and down her neck, pausing occasionally to suck gently on the skin there. Her fists tightened in his hair, and she let out breathy moan that threatened to destroy every last thread of his self-control.

"Oh, Sirius..." she whimpered, shifting in his lap in an effort to press herself closer to him.

That did it. Not caring that his chest felt like it was on fire, he flipped them so that she was lying on the couch, pinned beneath him, before resuming his earlier ministrations, pressing kisses across her shoulders and chest. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"Sirius..." she breathed, and he moved back up to nip softly at her earlobe. "Sir...you...you've just been tortured..."

"I don't bloody well give a damn at the moment, Sade," he growled against her throat, and she laughed softly, placing her hands on his chest and gently pushing him away from her. He pouted but obliged and was almost glad that he had as he drank in the sight of her. Lying beneath him, hair splayed across the pillow, cheeks flushed and eyes shining as she gazed up at him breathlessly...he was sure he had never seen anything more beautiful.

She sat up and pressed her lips firmly to his one more time before pulling back and giving him an absolutely breathtaking smile. "Well, I do give a damn. You're my patient. Besides," she added with a cheeky grin. "I rather like your body and would prefer it remain in one piece."

He stared at her in disbelief for a moment before letting out a short bark of laughter. Shaking his head, he laid back down and grabbed her hand, tugging her toward him until she was curled up tightly against his chest. She hummed happily and allowed her hand to absently run up and down his arm.

"So..." she began casually. "Since first year, huh?"

Sirius let out a sheepish chuckle. "Ah. Caught that, did you?"

Sadie laughed and tilted her head up to press a light kiss to his jaw. "I'm only sorry it took me so long to catch up." He hummed in agreement but was otherwise silent for a moment before hesitantly asking:

"Did you really not know?"

Now it was Sadie's turn to look sheepish. "Erm...no...I honestly didn't...were you that obvious?"

"Apparently to everyone else and their dog," he grumbled. "Evans has even tried chatting with me about it."

"Wait, really?" She pushed up until she was resting on her elbow, giving him an incredulous look. "She never mentioned that she thought...well...I mean, no one else did either..." She paused for a moment. "Well, except for Regulus."

Sirius nearly choked. "Just how much time have you been spending with my brother?! And more importantly, why?!"

She laughed. "Honestly not much. There have just been a few occasions here and there, mostly when he's worried about you." Her expression softened, and she grabbed his hand, bringing it up to her lips to press a brief kiss to his palm. "He really cares about you, you know. I know you've chosen different...paths...but..." She shrugged. "I just thought you'd like to know." She looked like she wanted to say more but decided against it, instead giving him a sweet smile and standing up, ignoring his protests. "You really do need to eat something." As though trying to vocalize its agreement, his stomach gave a loud growl. Sadie threw her head back and laughed, and he was transfixed. He'd always loved her laugh, and she hadn't done it nearly enough in the last several months. "I've got some muffins in the kitchen. Does that sound alright? We can see how that settles before giving you anything more."

He nodded wordlessly and watched as she practically skipped into the kitchen. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he let out a contented sigh. Sure, he'd been tortured by his cousin less than 24 hours ago, and he really was in quite a bit of pain, and he was sure he was not going to be welcome back home, but...

For the moment, it felt as though everything was right with the world.

A/N: A bit of an early update, but I've got family coming into town this weekend, and I'm not sure I'll have much time for writing. Also...I've been so excited for this chapter! For obvious reasons haha. I hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks so much for your continued support! Let me know what you think!

Vicky Lopez: Aw thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear that you are still enjoying it!