Chapter 25

April tidied the kitchen, filled Sasha's bowl with fresh biscuits so that he would have something to eat when he returned through the cat flap, and locked the kitchen door. She glanced down at her watch. It was almost ten. She wondered whether an early night might be a good idea. It was a bit early but she felt soooo tired. She wasn't sure how well she would sleep given the circumstances, but she desperately needed some time to herself, to try to relax and de-stress.

When she returned to the living room the sorcerer was engrossed in his book again. She noticed that he had switched on the table lamp beside him. He hadn't answered her when she had asked if he had been to Earth before. She translated his evasiveness as a big fat yes. But when had he, and why? She considered asking again but didn't have the energy to deal with the fallout should her questioning result in further aggro, she just wanted to get away from him for a while.

"I'm off to bed. I'm tired." She said the latter with a little more venom than she intended. But she felt justified. It was his fault she was feeling like this after all.

He met her gaze. "Yes, you look it."

"Thanks!" she threw back, irked that he didn't seem to care.

But she was taken aback by the sudden concern in his eyes. "Would you like me to help you sleep? With my magic, I mean."

"Not if you mean how I think you mean!" Though remembering what he had done to her in the bedroom, that delicious warmth flooding through her body, making her feel so blissfully relaxed, she was almost tempted.

He grinned. "Why not? You seemed to like it."

"No!" she snapped, but she softened it with: "Thank you."

He looked disappointed. "Jesting aside, I can modify the incantation. Just focus on sleep."

"I'll be fine."

"Well, the offer is there should you change your mind."

Her gaze dropped to his book and for a brief moment her flagging energy was revived with a spark of adrenaline. She longed to know what was inside; to read its magical contents. She quickly shook the dangerous thought away. "I'll find you some pyjamas and lay them on the bed in the spare bedroom. That room you were in earlier. "

"Pyjamas?"

"Clothes to sleep in."

"I usually sleep - "

"Don't!" She raised her hand to halt him in his tracks, knowing exactly what he was about to say. "Just wear them, please." Damn, he was incorrigible!

She started to walk away but stopped and peered back at him. "And can you please refrain from any…" she gestured to the book. 'Magical experimentation. This cottage is my home. It's all I have. I don't want it accidentally blown up or burnt down."

He smirked. "You have my word."

"And don't annoy Sash when he comes in."

"It is the other way around I assure you."

She frowned but let it go.

"And don't forget to turn off the lamp."

He watched her in exasperation. "Anything else!?"

"I think that covers everything." She managed a sleepy smirk of her own as she turned away. "Goodnight."

He didn't reply until she was about to exit the room.

"Goodnight, April."

His voice was gentle, and dare she acknowledge it, tender, when using her name instead of the usual mortal. She hesitated at the door but refused to look back. Instead, it was her turn to make a quick getaway, hurrying up the stairs and into the bathroom.

She felt too self-conscious to have a shower. She knew she was being silly but what if he could see through walls, or even phase through them? So she had a quick wash at the sink, cleaned her teeth and brushed her hair. As she was leaving the bathroom she spied his original clothes neatly folded (which was totally unexpected!) beside the bath. She decided to leave them there until the morning. She just couldn't be bothered to load the washing machine up right now.

In her bedroom she rooted around the chest of drawers for a pair of David's pyjamas, finding ones that she knew for a fact he had never worn, given the hundreds of tiny emoji faces all over them. She remembered they had been a jokey Christmas present from his brother.

Tears pricked at her eyes. She could still remember David's bemused reaction when he had seen them. "He's got to be kidding me!"

"Probably pay back for last year," April had laughed. "When you gave him that t-shirt you had custom printed with 'I am a prat' on it. Can't wait to see you wearing them."

"In your dreams!" he had laughed back.

"Naughty ones?" she had teased and he had grabbed her and ravished her right in front of the Christmas tree.

She blinked back her emotions, forcing down her memories, and stood up. These would have to do for the sorcerer. They could be her own payback for him disrupting her peaceful life. Imagining him wearing them even brought a smile back to her lips. She put them on his bed and hoped he would have the decency to wear them.

As she undressed and slipped into her own pyjamas (tastefully patterned with tiny rosebuds), she stared warily at the door wishing it had a lock. She usually kept it open for Sash, so he could sleep on her bed if he wanted to, but she wasn't going to do that while there was a stranger in her house. She eventually wedged a chair against it.

She lay staring up at the shadowy ceiling for about an hour, unable to sleep, just like she had predicted, ruminating over the day's crazy events, and worrying that something equally crazy was about to happen at any moment. But eventually her eyes grew heavy, her wearied mind admitted defeat, and she finally succumbed to her exhaustion.

It only seemed like seconds later that she sat up with a start, woken by a cry. But it was actually the middle of the night, the neon digits on the bedside clock telling her it was half past three. Her heart thudded in her chest as she waited with bated breath, praying she had just dreamed the sound. She was just starting to relax when a crash from the spare bedroom made her literally jump out of her skin...

Reviews always appreciated, pretty-please? (I'll write quicker!) :D