Elise woke with a start. There was a loud commotion coming from Harry's room. Fearing the worst, she threw herself out of bed, snatched her wand and lunged up the stairs at record speeds. Upon bursting into the room, her nerves frayed and hair on end, she sighed. Harry had somehow managed to pick up a cup of water and make it explode…or something. She saw the cup, blown to pieces, and everything around it was drenched with water.

"Little man…it's five in the morning, were you that thirsty?" She chuckled.

"Wa." Was his simple reply.

It was past the middle of December by now, and Elise had grown used to Harry's random outbursts. He had yet to hurt himself or anyone else, so she wasn't keen on looking into ways to stop him, but she just might have to. Perhaps she would ask Nicholas if there were any safe and temporary methods to calm bouts of accidental magic.

Nicholas Woods had become somewhat of a permanent fixture in their life. When he wasn't working he was coming over to the house to help decorate, or watch Harry so Elise could get things done. Sometimes he just came over for the sake of coming over and they watched movies or taught Harry games and skills to play and practice.

Elise had been in search of a job now that things had begun to calm down. While she knew they could very easily live off the allowance the Potter's had left to her, she felt guilty for doing so and decided to put it in a savings account in case of emergencies. She would use the money for Harry only and once he came of age she would transfer the account to him, giving him free reign over it. She figured this was entirely fair.

So, she interviewed at several schools around the area, hoping to become an elementary school teacher. She had yet to hear back from any of them however, and was growing increasingly concerned. While Harry played with his toys in the living room, she nervously went out to the mailbox to check one last time.

The school she hoped to secure a job with was just a few miles away. Apple Orchard Primary would be the school Harry would attend starting at five until he was ten. Elise desperately wanted to work there so she could be near Harry even when he was at school. She hated to be an overbearing parent, but with his tendency to cause trouble? Leaving him to his own devices for such a long period of time seemed like a recipe for disaster.

When the mailbox was empty yet again, she sullenly headed back into the house. Harry was crawling towards the door when she closed it behind her, babbling about something. She picked him up and walked him back over to the living room, intent on getting him back to play. When she tried to set him back down, he cried out until she picked him back up again.

"Ma! Ma!" He said over and over again until she held him tightly in her arms.

She raised a confused eyebrow, wondering why he was suddenly being clingy.

"What's up, little man?" She asked, tapping his nose. "Did you miss mama?"

Harry's response was to coo softly, his eyes mirroring her own sadness. She wondered if he could tell she was upset.

"Ma…" he said softly, placing a tiny hand on her nose.

She giggled. "Harry, that's not how that one works, you're supposed to do that when you're being silly." She tapped his nose and made a funny face.

He seemed to consider her words before wrapping his tiny arms around her neck as best as he could, giving her the most adorable hug she'd ever had. She felt her mood shift considerably for the better, sitting down and cuddling him tightly.

"Thanks Harry, how did you know I was sad?" She whispered to him.

He looked up with his green eyes,much like her own, and smiled brightly. She supposed he thought her successfully comforted because he scrambled out of her arms soon after, right back to his toys. She chuckled. Harry was indeed a bright little man, at almost eighteen months he was even interpreting emotions and moods. She shook her head, thinking of how quickly his supposed wisdom might become trouble.

The rest of the day was spent lounging about, she read Harry books and chased him around the house. He seemed to think he could walk, and would often stand and take a few shaky steps before falling and giving up. She encouraged him each time, hoping he might figure it out soon. At around seven, a knock startled her up from the floor. She grabbed Harry and went to check on their visitor, having a growing suspicion she already knew who it was.

"Evening!" Came the giddy voice of Nicholas.

"Hello!" She quirked her head to the side, wondering why he looked so excited.

"Have you been outside in a while?" He asked, looking back.

"…no?" She looked past him. "We've been inside since this morning, it's too cold." She stepped to the side, letting him in all the way to prove her point.

"Good." She noticed his arms were behind his back.

"What do you have?" She asked, trying to see.

He turned quickly, avoiding her gaze. "A present! But it's a surprise, can we go to the kitchen?" He turned all the way around, a huge grin on his face as he practically ran to the kitchen backwards.

"Alright…" she rolled her eyes, wondering what all the secrecy was for.

"Stay there a moment, will you? I'll only be a second." He called while she was still in the dining room.

She sighed. "Sure."

She heard a bit of shuffling and the opening of a box. She smelled chocolate.

"Alright, come in!" His excitement was contagious and Elise hurried into the kitchen, smiling widely.

A chocolate cake with white icing sat in the middle of the counter, the word "congratulations!" written on the center. She gave him a confused look and set Harry down, who promptly crawled over to him.

"What are you congratulating me for?" She asked.

Nicholas swooped Harry up and turned around, handing him something. "This!" Came his excited reply as he whipped around.

Harry was holding an envelope in his hands, a pretty large one. Her heart sped up considerably as she realized what it was. She took two quick steps to them, taking it.

"Well, open it!" Nicholas said.

Harry babbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Yea! Open it!"

Her fingers quivered over the seal. Apple Orchard Primary was printed across the front in loopy handwriting. This letter would tell her whether or not she was hired. She wondered if Nicholas had already opened it, otherwise how would he know this was a means for celebration? What if she was rejected? She looked up at them once more, both were leaning over to her with huge, identical grins on their faces. She sighed.

Without another thought she ripped open the seal and pulled out the letter. Her eyes scanned the page and the room seemed to fall silent. All she could hear was her raging heart. Word after word processed in her mind.

She read some of the words aloud. "Elise Clarke…excited…hope you accept…hired! HIRED! I'm hired!" She cried jumping up excitedly.

Nicholas popped confetti with his wand and had Harry clapping excitedly.

"Yay!" He said.

Harry looked between the two and mimicked. "Yaaay!" He cried while clapping.

Her grin was as wide as theirs now as she threw her arms around them both. "I'm hired!" She cried again.

"Hired indeed! I knew you would be." Nicholas replied. "They'd be a fool not to hire such a brilliant woman."

Elise stepped back, catching his gaze. She realized they did this quite often, holding this gaze somewhere between longing and apprehension until one finally broke away. His brown eyes held only kindness as he ruffled her hair.

"Miss Clarke, the newest Apple Orchard Primary history teacher, incredible." He winked. "How about this cake?"

Elise frowned slightly when he turned to cut a slice of the cake, letting Harry take the first bite. She couldn't place her feelings. She wanted him to look back at her with those eyes once more. She shook her head.

"I must be insane…" she muttered.

"Sorry?" He turned from Harry to her.

"Oh, um- can I have a piece?" She hoped the innocence of her smile came through, praying he didn't assume anything else.

"Of course Madam, how could I not serve the guest of honor herself?" He drew out a piece gallantly, offering it to her with his head bowed. "For her majesty."

She laughed. "Why thank you, kind sir. I believe I shall enjoy this cake." She stuffed a bite into her mouth, relishing in the brilliant distraction of chocolate.

Who needed to dwell on problems when you could dwell on the delectable feeling of fluffy chocolate cake on your tongue? She hummed in delight.

"Ah..Harry?" Nicholas called.

Harry had slumped onto his shoulder, tired from his day of playing. His face was covered in chocolate. Nicholas chuckled and wiped it off.

"I'll go set him down, enjoy your cake." He smiled, heading to Harry's room.

Elise nodded absentmindedly, willing her mind to only think of the cake. Nothing else was necessary. No thoughts of Nicholas's eyes or his voice or…wait- NO thoughts of him! She chewed harder, stuffing more cake in her mouth. She watched the minutes tick by on the oven clock, noticing it was 7:12.

Just then, Nicholas' voice broke her from her thoughts. "He's settled, can I have a piece?"

"Mhm." Came her reply through her absent minded chewing.

She watched him eat his cake, a little too closely, if she'd thought to pay attention. He had, and wondered what was on her mind.

"Elise?"

"Huh-? Yes, what?" She said, shaking her head.

"Are you alright? I thought you'd be excited to work at Apple Orchard?" He looked at her with those eyes again.

She shuddered.

"Nick…" she started, disregarding his question. "Nick I-"

Wait, what was she doing? She set her plate down and stared at the floor, her face flushed. He set his own plate down, now very concerned.

"Elise? What's on your mind?" He put a hand on her arm.

Elise jerked back, startled. She felt bad immediately as his eyes widened for a second before his face fell. She could feel the sweat trickling down her face.

Her mind was completely and utterly scrambled at this point. She'd known Nicholas only for the better part of three weeks now, and yet she'd felt like she'd known him a lifetime.

She considered each time he'd made her heart race or her thoughts jumbled. She thought of how the brief touches they shared made her body ache for more. She thought of his gaze and how she wanted to bask in it, to hold and command all of his attention. With each second she could feel him growing more concerned. She steeled herself and looked up at him.

Her confidence faltered. "Don't look at me like that…" She mumbled.

"Sorry?" He said.

"I said, don't look at me like that, look at me how you usually do." She said, louder this time.

Her eyes trailed down his body and back up to his face, which now held only confusion.

"How do I normally look at you?" A slight smile came back to his face.

Of course he was amused by this, the prat. She sighed.

"Like…I don't know!" She huffed. "Look at me with that stupidly brilliant smile of yours."

He laughed out loud, a deep belly laugh, he really found this funny.

"Alright?" He turned on his brightest smile, looking at her intently.

"Nevermind…." She sighed. "I don't know what I want…"

He toned the smile down, reaching for her arm once more. She didn't pull away this time. The room grew quiet, save for the drumming of their hearts, now perfectly in sync. Nick trailed his hand down to her own, lacing their fingers together.

"I do." He mumbled.

"You do, what?" She asked, backing into the counter slightly.

"I know what you want." His voice was low. "Well, I hope I do. I hope it's exactly what I want."

His tone implied it all. Elise felt the heat in her face again, or perhaps that was his breath on her cheek. With the small of her back pressed into the counter and her right hand intertwined with his own, she let her eyes trail up and down him once more. When she met his again, he looked at her just as she'd wanted him to before, with that sincere trace of longing. Her breath became shallow.

"Do you…I mean, is that what you want?" He asked.

She felt her body shift rather than her mouth reply. Her hand moved from her side to his arm, pulling on his shirt sleeve. Her fingers gripped the fabric tightly and she stared at it pointedly while he came closer from her pull. When he was just inches away from her, she looked back up at him again.

Nicholas could think of nothing other than how she was looking at him in his moment. He placed a hand next to her on the counter to balance himself, fearing he might collapse from nervousness. His other hand still held hers and his feet were placed on either side of her own, effectively trapping her. She didn't seem to mind as her eyes flitted up and down, analyzing him.

"Elise…" He breathed, fully aware of the palpable tension between them.

"Is this stupid?" Her soft whisper stopped him mid sentence.

"Maybe, a little. Maybe not." Came his reply, his eyes trained on her parted lips.

"It is." She sighed "We're entirely ridiculous."

"Okay, we're ridiculous." He agreed half-heartedly, leaning in closer.

"We're crazy!" Her wide eyes met his.

"Crazy indeed." He pushed closer.

"We're…" Elise struggled to form her next thought, mere centimeters away from his face. "We're…"

"We're going to be okay." Came his final reply before he pressed a slow kiss to her lips.

Elise felt her breath hitch before she sank into it. His hand squeezed hers before finding her waist. Elise leaned back into the counter, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck. She pulled him closer, deepening the kiss.

She found herself being swiftly lifted onto the counter, her head pressed against the upper cabinets. She was only half aware of the cake mere feet away from where she now sat. Nick pressed his arms behind her and broke the kiss for a moment.

"Elise…" he managed between heavy breaths.

An annoyed groan was all that she managed, leaning down to kiss him once more. Her hands trailed down from his neck to his chest, settling there. She gripped his shirt, needing him closer. She had decided that her mind was useless now, for every sane thought had obviously left the room.

Nicholas had come to a similar conclusion, his previous restraint forgotten. He pulled her legs so that she was indeed pressed against him and broke this kiss once more. Her reddened face and heaving chest were a good sign to him and he took a bolder approach.

Elsie gasped softly as he placed slow and deliberate kisses down her jaw line. He lingered around her pulse point before continuing to her collarbone. One hand was tangled in his hair, pulling slightly every time he hit a particularly sensitive spot, the other was traveling here and there with no particular destination. She had the overwhelming urge to take his shirt off, but decided to settle with relishing in this feeling for a moment.

Nicholas had long since lost all interest in calming down, charging full steam ahead with his pent up desire. Sure, they hadn't exactly known each other for very long, but every moment they had shared was meaningful and worthwhile. He could think of no one he shared a better connection with, with her it was instant, comfortable. She had taken over his thoughts for twenty two days now, and he finally got the chance to be honest. He decided they could easily just regret it tomorrow, so he continued on his hungry barrage of kisses.

Elise pulled him back forcefully, pushing herself off the counter and back onto the floor. She pressed him deliberately backward until the obvious 'thud' oh his back hitting the wall completed her mission. She pressed herself into him hard, standing up on her tiptoes to capture him in a kiss once more. His hands trailed up her back hungrily, finding her hair. Just as she thought they might should calm down before taking things too far, a bemused chuckle caught them off guard.

"Well, I seem to have stumbled upon something I wasn't supposed to see!" The all too excited voice of Nicholas's mum sent them reeling away from each other, their breath erratic.

"Mum-?" The strangled cry was caught in his throat as he gestured incredulously at her appearance.

"Sorry dearie, you said you'd be home by 6:30 and it's almost 8, I came to see if you were bothering our lovely neighbor. Seems I was right." She muttered the last part through a smirk. "Well, you two have fun then, sorry I caught ya!" She called behind her as she scurried out the door, cackling as she went.

The silence was deafening. Elise wanted to crawl into the ground and die, never to be seen again. Nicholas felt much the same, she could tell. He stared at the ground like he was begging it to swallow him up then and there.

She cleared her throat, trying to think of anything to say. "Uhm…so, how did you know I got the job?"

"Huh?" He said, turning to look at her. "The job…yes, the job. Um, I didn't?" His jumped reply carried over his nerves.

Elise blinked. "Wait, you didn't know? You brought me a congratulatory cake and didn't know if I'd gotten the job?" She laughed. "What would you have done if I hadn't?"

With the tension effectively calming down, he relaxed. "I hadn't thought about it. I was entirely sure you were successful." He shrugged, a lopsided grin on his flushed face.

"Oh, you are one lucky man, I would have been so embarrassed." She laughed harder now, the adrenaline from being caught catching up to her.

"I would have fixed it, I'm pretty quick on my feet." He laughed with her, the same energy bubbling up.

They descended into giggles, neither sure what was so funny. Elise clutched her stomach, trying to stop it from aching. Nicholas rubbed his side, somehow he'd gotten a stitch from their amusement.

"Elise…" he said through laughs. "You were right, we are stupid!"

"I know!" She smiled, walking back over to him. "Stupid perhaps, but happy still. That is, if you think so?" She quirked an eyebrow, trying to ignore the flush of her face returning as she considered their earlier moments.

"Oh, I'm elated. Forgive me for being blunt, but I've wanted that for at least a week now." His eyes were entirely serious.

"Oh!" She laughed. "You're better than me, I've been thinking about it since you hurled the tree into your truck."

"Well, why didn't you say anything?" He asked, bewildered.

"What would I have said?" She rolled her eyes. "Hey, watching you throw that tree around was the hottest thing I've ever seen, care to show me more? Or better yet, mind doing it to me instead?" She put on a terribly high-pitched voice, mocking her own thoughts.

He balked, mouth hanging open. Elise snapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide. They stayed like that for a moment, before he couldn't hold it back any longer, he burst out laughing once more, doubling over.

"Elise…Elise!" He wheezed. "I'm so sorry-"

She stared at him incredulously. "Why are you apologizing-?"

"I used magic!" He interrupted. "I spelled the tree to be lighter! That was a whole act to impress you." Tears streamed down his face while he cackled.

"What?!" She hissed. "Ohh you-!" Her insult would never come to be though, Nicholas grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him.

"Elise Clarke, may I have the honor of escorting you for a night out? I figure we should go on a proper date, now that we've sufficiently butchered the order of things." He asked, his joyful smile infectious even as he held her tightly.

"I suppose…" she said, looking him up and down. "I think I could manage one dinner with the likes of you." Her teasing tone sent him right back to where they started, the tension rising once more.

"Excellent, I'll let you know as soon as I figure out the details."

"Oh? You don't already have it all planned out? How embarrassing." She rolled her eyes playfully.

He grit his teeth. He knew she was trying to tease him on purpose, but he already felt bad enough as it was that he'd messed everything up tonight. He was supposed to remain calm and controlled until a decent enough time came around, then he could move on to the next step. Instead he threw his control out the window and tried to have his way with her way too soon. He was just lucky she felt the same, otherwise he would have really been in for it.

Elise fought off a pout, he was not taking the bait. She trailed her fingers up and down his arm, making it even more obvious. Instead of relenting, he gave her a small smile.

"Well then, I should go plan our dinner, and you should plan to begin your new trainings, Miss Clarke." He whispered her name, letting his breath grace her ear and cheek.

"Right…" she mumbled, frazzled by the effect he had on her.

"Then, I bid you goodnight." He pressed a soft kiss on the edge of her lips, and with that he left.