Sadie didn't wake up the next morning until sunlight was pouring in through her bedroom window. Her eyes opened slowly, and she let out an involuntary hum of contentment at the sight of Sirius slumbering quietly next to her. She noted with satisfaction that there was a healthy amount of color in his face and that his expression was calm and peaceful. Raising her hand, she gently brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. She could not remember being this happy in a long time.
They had spent some time the night before snuggling, laughing, and exchanging occasional soft kisses. They had both been exhausted, however, and it hadn't taken long for both of them to fall into deep sleep. Merlin, she had missed sleeping next to him, and it was even better now that both of their feelings were out in the open.
After a couple of minutes, Sadie sighed and reluctantly slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Sirius in the process. She quietly grabbed a new pair of shorts and a tank top from her closet and crept down the hall toward the bathroom. Resisting the urge to sing loudly like she normally did in the shower, she started the water and stepped in, sighing happily as the warm water washed over her.
Twenty minutes later, she felt like a new person as she exited the bathroom and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Cinnamon rolls sounded delightful this morning, and she cheerfully got to work making the dough. These would take a while to make, but they were a labor of love, and Sadie's mouth watered slightly just thinking about them.
She was carefully arranging the raw pastries on a cookie sheet a couple of hours later when she felt Sirius's arms slip around her waist from behind. He pressed his lips to the side of her neck, making her shiver.
"Morning, Beautiful," he murmured against her skin. His voice was still delightfully scratchy from sleep, and Sadie had to swallow hard and take a moment to regain her focus. She set down the last cinnamon roll and turned in his embrace, draping her arms over his shoulders.
"Morning," she smiled, leaning back just far enough to look him in the eyes. "How are you feeling?"
Sirius took a moment to really assess his condition before nodding with a grin. "I feel great, honestly. Much, much better. You're bloody amazing, Sade."
Sadie bit her lip to keep from smiling at the praise. "I'm so happy you're doing better." She stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek before pulling away. "These just need to bake for about twenty minutes, and then I'll need to frost them. That should be plenty of time for you to go take a shower if you'd like."
His grin widened. "Is that your not-so-subtle way of telling me I smell?"
"No, it's my not-so-subtle way of telling you to get out of my kitchen and stop distracting me," she corrected sweetly.
Sirius smirked and moved closer to her, pressing her back up against the edge of the counter. "You find me distracting?"
It took all of Sadie's willpower to push him away and stick her tongue out at him. "Yes. You do smell, after all. Remember?"
His mouth fell open. "I knew it! How rude!"
Just go shower!" She giggled. He pouted at her before turning away and moving to leave. On an impulse, Sadie reached out and gave his bum a light pinch. He froze for a second before turning around to gape at her. Her smile faltered. "Sorry...I um...don't know exactly what came over me there..."
"Ohhhh Sadie Mae," he grinned wickedly. "You are playing with fire, Love." And on that ominous note, he spun on his heel and walked out of the kitchen.
Sadie stared after him uncertainly for a minute but then heard the water running upstairs and hesitantly went back to her baking. She could faintly hear his singing coming from the bathroom and felt fairly confident that he was indeed in the shower now. Once the rolls were in the oven, she immediately started on the icing, knowing that it often took her a while to get it to a consistency that she was happy with.
Her mind wandered slightly as she worked. She should probably send another owl to her parents to let them know that Sirius was fine and that she had things under control, but Daisy wasn't back yet. She imagined that they would hurry home to check up on things themselves as soon as they got her original letter anyway, and that would be faster than owl post. She wondered what James would say when he found out that his sister and his best friend were together now. Had he already figured out that they had feelings for each other?
She suddenly let out an indelicate snort as the mental image of Lily's face popped into her mind. Oh, that girl was going to have a field day with this.
When it was time, Sadie pulled the cinnamon rolls out of the oven just in time for Sirius to stroll back into the kitchen, hands in his pockets and hair still slightly damp from his shower. He gave her a crooked grin that made her heart race and casually made his way over to the bowl of icing to dip his finger into it.
"Oi!" Sadie scolded, marching forward to swat him with a hand towel. "Paws off!"
He caught the end of the towel easily and used it to yank her toward him. She squeaked in surprise and barely had time to register what was happening before he had taken his icing-covered finger and swiped it down the bridge of her nose. He smirked in satisfaction at the thunderstruck look on her face and in a flash had scooped up some more frosting from the bowl and smeared it across her cheek. That was enough to break her out of her shocked state, and she leapt away from him.
"Sirius Orion Black!"
He doubled over laughing, and Sadie's eyes narrowed. Knowing he would be expecting some kind of retaliation, she needed to act fast. Without pausing to think, she lunged forward and thrust her hand into the icing bowl, whipping it out and throwing a massive gob into Sirius's face. He staggered backward, swearing but laughing even harder as Sadie watched him smugly. It took him only a second to recover and just like that, a full-on icing war broke out.
Before long, the kitchen was filled with shrieks and shouts and covered in icing. Sirius had resorted to chucking the unfrosted cinnamon rolls at Sadie as she wielded a wooden spoon to great effect, scooping out spoonful after spoonful of icing and waving it around like a maniac so that it flung everywhere. The cinnamon rolls didn't last very long, however, and in a last ditch effort, Sirius dove forward and caught Sadie around the waist, sending them both crashing to the floor. The spoon flew out of her hand and then came soaring down, bouncing off of Sirius's head before hitting the ground.
There was a moment of stunned silence before they both erupted into fits of laughter. Sirius dropped his face to Sadie's shoulder, both of them shaking with mirth. When they had finally both calmed down enough, he lifted his head and grinned down at her.
"You've got a little something..." he told her. "Here, let me get it."
He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly before swiping his tongue across her lower lip to apparently remove a bit of icing that had landed there. She hummed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him from pulling away, and he smiled against her lips at the gesture. The kiss deepened, and a pool of heat was forming in the pit of Sadie's stomach when...
"Well, it's nice to see that the two of you have apparently settled your differences."
They lurched apart and looked up with wide eyes to see James leaning against the door frame and staring down at them with a look of mingled amusement and disgust on his face. There was a pause, and then Sirius cleared his throat and hurried to climb off of Sadie. He scrambled to his feet and reached down to help her up as well before raising his hand to rub the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Hey, Prongsie."
Euphemia Potter walked in from behind her son at that moment and stared, open-mouthed at the mess in her kitchen. Sadie shuffled her feet guiltily. Euphemia's gaze landed on Sadie and Sirius. "What on earth..." She shook her head and seemed to force herself to focus. "We came as soon as we got your letter, Sadie...It wasn't terribly clear, but...I take it she's patched you up alright, Sirius?"
"And kissed it all better by the looks of things," James sniggered. Sadie scowled at him while Sirius fought off a grin. Euphemia glanced at her son.
"What's that, James?"
"Oh, nothing," he replied airily. "Only I've just walked in on them snogging the living daylights out of each other."
Sadie rolled her eyes as her mother whipped back around to look at her and Sirius. "Oh, don't exaggerate, Jamie."
"Yeah, we've snogged way more-ow!" Sirius frowned at Sadie as she elbowed him hard in the ribs.
Euphemia pursed her lips together as though trying not to smile and shot a glance back behind James, where Sadie noticed her father standing for the first time. "Well, I suppose a good healer knows when to use a spell or a potion or when...other methods would be more effective."
Sadie's face went scarlet. "Mum!" She muttered, looking anywhere but at anyone's face as everyone else chuckled. This was not how she had pictured telling her family about their newfound relationship.
Apparently sensing his daughter's discomfort and taking pity on her, Fleamont cleared his throat. "Well, all other things aside, it sounded from your letter as though we have quite a bit to talk about." He waved his wand, and the icing on the cabinets, floors, and all over Sadie and Sirius disappeared. "Perhaps the sitting room would be a better place to have this conversation."
The mood sobered slightly as everyone nodded and followed him. Sirius sat on the sofa, and Sadie lowered herself down next to him, gripping his hand tightly as he recounted what had happened. When he had finished all that he remembered, Sadie took over from her perspective and shared the condition she'd found him in, how she had gotten him out, and what she had done to take care of him when they got back. When she finished, her family was staring at her in stunned silence. After a moment, James recovered enough to ask:
"You took on Sirius's whole family plus Bellatrix? Alone?"
"Oh," Sadie shifted awkwardly. "Well...yes, I suppose. But not all at once. And I had the element of surprise. And Regulus really doesn't count."
Euphemia was looking a bit shaken, and Fleamont had wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Well. We're just glad you're both safe."
"And of course you'll be living with us now, Sirius," Euphemia added briskly. "I trust you still have a good supply of clothes up in your room here?"
Sirius's voice was thick with emotion as he responded. "Yes, ma'am." Sadie gave his hand a squeeze.
"Excellent." Euphemia clapped her hands together once. "It's settled then."
Fleamont leaned forward and looked between Sadie and Sirius. "Now, I won't set any specific ground rules, but...the two of you are going to be living under the same roof. All I ask is that you try to be respectful of the fact that you are in our home and...be careful."
They both flushed and nodded earnestly. Both Fleamont and Euphemia looked satisfied and stood, heading back into the kitchen. James, however, was looking disgruntled.
"Can I set some ground rules then? Like no shagging in the room next to mine? I do not need to hear that!"
"James!" Sadie hissed, cheeks burning. Sirius, however, threw his head back and laughed.
"No promises, Mate."
A/N: Ughhhh I had such a hard time with this chapter, and I'm still not totally thrilled with it, but...I guess it's just one of those humps I needed to get over so that I could move on. Thanks again for reading!
WindSongEnchantment: Couldn't have said it better myself. ;)
hauntedpumpkin56: Yes, it certainly took them long enough lol. Thanks for sticking with it!
GingerGryffindor: *wipes away a tear* That was beautiful.
Human: Yes, I must agree, they put it quite eloquently. ;)
hollypop2014: Thank you! So glad that you like it!