They only slept for a few hours. Lily woke up, realizing James was tightly holding her to him. His arm was secured about her waist, ensuring she was pressed against the front of his body. She sighed in content; she was relieved that James wanted to sleep beside her again. She felt him stirring behind her and she whispered, "Good morning baby."
She felt him take his hand off of her abdomen and brush her hair away from the back of her neck, before placing a few light kisses in the newly cleared area. She felt herself shudder involuntarily. She tried to suppress it, but James noticed.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled. Lily could hear the shame in his voice.
"Hm?" Lily pretended to not know what he was talking about.
"It seems like you didn't exactly like that," he answered quietly.
"No," Lily said. "It was just unexpected."
James rolled away from her and got out of bed to go use the restroom. Lily had sat up to watch him go, but when he closed to door, she flopped back against James' pillow.
She rolled onto her side when she heard the door open again. She patted the side of the bed that was usually hers and said, "Come back and lay with me, please?"
She saw the hesitation flash across his face and he said, "I was going to go make breakfast for us."
"That can wait," Lily insisted. "Please come back to bed for a few minutes."
He seemed to be deliberating so Lily pressed, "I'm feeling cold without you."
James conceded and crawled under the covers. Lily pulled him to rest his head on her chest and ran her fingers through his hair as she looked at the ceiling.
"How was your run babe?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice.
"It was fine," James said quietly.
"Figure anything out?"
"Nothing that I didn't already know."
"Like what?"
"That I love you more than anything in the world," James answered simply.
"I love you too."
"What do you want to do today, darling?" James asked, looking up at Lily.
After she snorted at the pet name, her hand slowed in his hair. She was thinking. She finally answered, "I'm just happy to be with you."
"Okay, but what do you want to do?" James asked.
"I don't know."
"Want to go to Diagon Alley? I saw your potion stores are running low. Maybe we could get you some new ingredients? I also know you're always up for some ice cream at Florean's. You know, there's that wedding for some family friend coming up that Mum's made it clear we'll be invited to. I think you could use a new neckl-"
Lily cut him off, "I know what you're doing."
"And what am I doing?" James asked nervously.
"You're feeling badly about last night, and you're trying to make it up to me, even though you don't have to."
He sighed, "You caught me."
He sat up and settled himself between her legs so that he was facing her. She wouldn't quite meet his eyes and James could tell she was feeling embarrassed.
She tried to joke, "You were about as subtle as a herd of elephants stampeding through here."
"I'm sorry. I want you to know that it's not like I think you can be bought. I'm just trying to remind you that I do love you. These are the things I know I should have been doing all along."
Lily looked at him, not completely convinced.
"Fine. Maybe a little bit of it is guilt, but most of it is that I should do these things anyway. I realized last night that I stopped doing these things and I never should have. I used to pick things up for you while I was out, we used to go get ice cream just because. I used to surprise you with gifts. You still do that for me and I can't believe I stopped."
"You don't have to spoil me, James," Lily answered quietly. "I know you love me."
"You deserve to be spoiled," he argued. "I pay attention to your potions stores because I know how talented you are and how many incredible draughts you can make and I want you to have supplies for them. I know you like ice cream, and so do I, and that's truly so simple and a given anytime we're around the shop. And I do want to get you a necklace, not because I feel bad- although I don't feel the greatest about last night- but because you deserve nice things, and I want to give them to you. I don't know when or why I stopped, but you should certainly let me start to again."
Lily leaned forward and grabbed James' face in her hands, and pulled him towards her. She kissed him softly and whispered, "I hate you," against his lips.
He pulled away with a grin on his face and said, "So that's a yes? We can go out to Diagon Alley today?"
"Only if you promise you won't buy me anything too expensive."
James pretended to think about it as he pulled himself out of bed and walked to the bedroom door.
"Not going to happen," he said quickly before rushing out of the doorframe to go to the kitchen and make breakfast.
The two of them got ready after breakfast. Lily changed in front of James and he had to force himself not to wince when he saw the small, light blue bruises he'd left on her hips the night before. He was relieved and grateful when her sweater covered the marks again. When she looked up at him she smiled softly and he approached her to apparate to Diagon Alley. They landed with a thud in front of Madame Malkin's.
They walked silently, James had his arm around Lily's waist until they arrived in front of the Apothecary. James looked at her and said, "Why don't you get what you need for your stores while I go shopping for a necklace for you. We'll meet at Fortescue's?"
"Don't spend too much," Lily reminded him sternly. "Merlin knows I don't deserve it."
"Hey," James said. "Don't say that please. You deserve the world. Also, not to sound too posh or anything, but even if I bought you the most expensive thing I could find, it wouldn't make even a ding in the vault."
Lily shuffled her feet as money talk always made her uncomfortable. James had a lot of it, and she did not. She regularly had to remind herself that he couldn't control the amount of wealth he had inherited and that it was hers now, since she had taken his last name after all.
His hand ran up to her shoulder as he faced her. She looked up at him and James said, "Hey, it was a joke. I'm sorry."
Lily still looked uncomfortable and James tried again, "I promise I'll keep it reasonable."
"Thank you," Lily said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. Then, because she hadn't been to the vault in a bit she had to ask, "Could I have some money, please?"
"What's mine is yours," James replied easily, handing her a small handful of galleons and sickles, which she hurriedly shoved into her purse. He leaned down to kiss her forehead and asked, "See you in a bit?"
"See you in a bit," she confirmed.
When James arrived at Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor about forty minutes later, Lily had already ordered his favorite sundae for him, and had worked halfway through her own. He kissed the side of her head before sitting down opposite her. "Thank you, love," he noted, gesturing at the sundae in front of him. "Did you get everything you needed?"
"And then some," Lily chuckled. She tried to slide what remained of the money James had given her across the table, but he shook his head, reminding her that what was his was also hers.
Though she had not wanted James to spend money on her, curiosity got the better of her, and she asked, in what she hoped was a casual manner, "So, did you get me anything?"
He nodded, swallowing a bite of ice cream, "Yeah, of course I did. I'll show you back at home, yeah?"
Lily nodded agreeably and laughed softly as she felt one of James' feet reaching under the table to play with hers. "You're such a dork," she remarked.
James was unbothered and simply grinned back, "You married a dork."
"Oh bollocks!" Lily exclaimed. "You're right."