A little.. quality time.

Katie was asleep, Chase was exhausted. She lay sprawled out on the couch, eyes half closed, listening to the sounds of the apartment. It had been a long week, and she was still in full recovery mode. She had been rescued, found out who she really loved, more then anyone in the world, graduated, and found her out her best friend wanted her to hate her. She was pretty much exhausted, and even this short day of not having anything that large to do, she still felt like her whole body was on fire. Her wounds were hurting her still, and she hadn't gotten back her full eye site in her eye quite yet. "Mmerr." Chase muttered, rolling so that one arm fell off the couch, and she opened her eyes blearily. "Calvin.. can you get me a numbing potion?" She asked the room in general, not even sure if he was in it, she was to tired to care though. She knew there was one somewhere.. and her stomach.. it was acting up again.

She looked up at the ceiling slowly, and smiled. It had all been so fast.. the battle, getting kidnapped, and recovering.. Calvin, still having to start her life.. getting a job. It was to crazy for her to handle, and it was rather obvious by the complete relaxed pose she was in now. She was still in her work clothes, and her bag hadn't been put up yet, it lay beside the couch, tipped to one side, slightly open, revealing some rather different looking materials, from what looked like dentist equipment, to a note book that was growling, and in an inside pocket was a furry.. something, with a bent foot, that she had offered to take home to nurse back to health. Though it had yet to leave her bag, because it seemed afraid of her still. Chase rolled over and touched the bag, opening a pocket and glancing in at the furry thing. "Not dead yet? Good.. I'll feed you in a second.. after I get my numbing potion.." Chase sat up slowly, one hand going to her head, and looking around the room for any sign of Calvin.

While Calvin was not the sort of person to ever consider anyone dreadful, the Death Eater who he’d faced that afternoon could very well be an exception to that rule. Truly, not even with a heart as large, and a mind as open as Calvin’s, could someone ever be tortured in the way Calvin had, and continue on thinking that the person who’d done the torturing was somehow a good person deep down… Perhaps the idea of a second chance was floating around somewhere within Calvin’s mind, but nothing more. Far too much pain had been inflicted upon him, and it had taken far too long for the healers at St. Mungo’s to revive him for such a point of view.

Every part of Calvin’s body, down to his very core, stung painfully as he stood from the elevator’s carpeted floor, and as he continued onward down the hall, stopping at the door of the apartment that he shared with his best mate, and his friend-who-was-a-girl. Calvin tilted his head to one side – but quickly returned his neck to its original, hunched position when the movement sent a searing pain down his spine – as he thought for a moment; what was it that he was supposed to call Chase? She meant quite a bit more to Calvin than a friend, but at the same time, he had never used the term ‘girlfriend’ before, and was not certain that he was capable of pronouncing such a word.

Having grown too curious, Calvin parted his lips, “girr-girlfriend,” he tried. The word felt strange on Calvin’s lips, and in spite of himself, as such an action pained him terribly, Calvin giggled innocently to himself.

He turned the doorknob and entered through the doorway, ducking inside in order to avoid hitting his head off of the upper portion of its wooden frame. He’d arrived just in time to hear Chase’s mention of a numbing potion, and at once he darted towards the cabinet where he kept his potions. With every wide sweep of his legs, Calvin’s spine complained, as that had been where he’d been hit with the Cruciatus Curse, and thus, the area that had received the most of its effects, but Calvin was determined to provide Chase with what she’d asked, as quickly as possible.

“Here you go, Chase,” he greeted her as he returned to the living room with a potion held tightly in both of his hands, which were extended at arms length, as though Calvin was attempting to shorten the time that it took for him to close the distance between them by doing so. “Here’s your numbing potion. Just a drop though, or else it will last too long and you will bite your tongue when you eat dinner,” he told her, and began to kneel down beside the sofa, when yet another bolt of electricity shot downward along his spine, and he crumbled, still holding the vial of brightly-colored potion out for Chase to take.

“Hmmowey…” Calvin whined into the carpet, and once more, tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

It’d been too long of a day.

Chase heard Calvin enter the apartment, and immediately she knew something was wrong. His footsteps were dragging, instead of light, and quick. His breathing sounded relatively shallow, and the second she realized something was wrong, she shot up and was sitting on the couch, reaching for him just as he started to fall. "Calvin! Oh no!" Chase cried out, and carefully helped move him onto the couch, gently placing her bag out of the way. "Calvin! Are you okay?" She asked gently, putting her hand on his forehead, and taking his temperature, before grabbing his wrist. "What can I get you? Where does it hurt? Lay down, DO NOT MOVE Calvin S. Ransom!" She exclaimed, pushing him gently onto the couch. "Let me take care of you for once alright?" She said, and quickly took a drop of the numbing potion herself, before handing it to him.

Chase had a quick thought that she may possibly be getting addicted to the numbing potion, but she'd think about that later, she had to help Calvin right now! "Hard day at work? Who did you battle today? Oh honey.. I swear.. I told myself you should not be an auror." she said standing up and moving to Calvin's potion supply cabinet, before pulling out a couple of potions and moving back over to him, setting them on the coffee table. She gently moved to his face, and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, brushing his hair out of his face. "Lets make you better alright? Before we even think about dinner.." She said softly, smiling down at him, before turning around and picking up a potion for him.

"Calvin... are you alright... what can I get you?" Chase looked at him worriedly. She was kind of used to Calvin coming home from work.. but it would take a LOT to get used to Calvin coming in.. like this. Chase could feel the whimper in the back of her throat, but she kept it in, handing him potions, and checking his body over for any fractures the St. Mungos people may have missed. She was checking him over, making sure he was okay.. watching his signs, when suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder. She looked over, and saw it was the furry.. thing. It must have been a cross breed, cause it didn't resemble anything Chase had seen, but it had two tiny black eyes staring down at Calvin, and then it slowly looked at Chase, and made an odd purring sound, before it dropped onto Calvin, and cuddled up right next to his throat, purring gently, like a cat.

The pain was nearly too much for Calvin to bear as he moved to the sofa with Chase's aid; any such movement upset his freshly-healed internal injuries. While he wanted to cry, Calvin could not help but feel as though he was meant to hold his tears back, and to reply to Chase's concerned questions with a simple 'I'm alright', or something of that nature. As Calvin blinked away the first batch of tears, however, another formed, and the salty liquid toppled over the edges of his eyes, and began to slip down his face. Calvin truly hated causing Chase worry, but at that moment, he really could not see any way to keep from doing so, other than to attempt to convince her that he would be alright. "I'm gonna be OK," he assured her, but his voice had already become far too nasally, as it always did when he cried, for his words to have the desired effect.

Calvin took the numbing potion that he was offered - but only after he'd watched Chase take her daily dose, as she'd been in need of it before he'd even stepped inside the flat. "Is it hurting you again? Which one is it?" Calvin asked her, having begun to feel the same concern towards Chase that she was expressing towards him. With fearful eyes, Calvin began to examine Chase for any signs that her injuries might be acting up, while she simultaneously did the same for him. They were quite a pair, doing everything they could to protect each other, and to rid one another of their aches and pains. "Come on Chase - hold still. Chase, please just... Chase. Chase. Chase," Calvin begged her as he attempted to continue his examination; she'd begun moving about too quickly for him to pay any of her scars enough attention. "Chase," he begged her again, but he sounded positively ridiculous, repeating her name so desperately while his voice sounded as odd as it did.

She kissed his cheek, and immediately afterword, Calvin brought his hand upward, being careful not to move too quickly, as it would only cause him more pain. For a moment, his hand ghosted over the spot that her lips had touched, before he moved his fingertips to wipe the tears that had formed just beneath his eyes.

"The healers did all they could. There isn't much for the Cruciatus Curse yet," he explained - but quickly covered his mouth with the hand that he'd already raised to his face; he was certain that he should have kept that piece of information to himself, as it would surely worry Chase even more. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean..." he corrected himself, but there was no going backwards. "Don't worry, Chase. Please? I... I just need - uh - what do I need?" Calvin thought about it for a moment as he began to search through the library of potions and healing charms that was his mind, before coming to a conclusion; "Just the numbing potion. That will do the trick in a bit."

"I didn't mean to... you know, to become an auror," Calvin added after a pause, one which he'd needed to take in order to catch his breath; he was having quite a bit of difficulty breathing correctly. "I am supposed to be helping muggles..." he added. Calvin sounded as though it had never occurred to him that he did not have to take part in the crime-fighting that the Ministry constantly had him doing. If it was not in his job description - and it wasn't - surely, he could refuse... but Calvin was not capable of refusing anything, and he cared far too much about making the Minister of Magic proud for him to do such a thing. "I'm just trying to keep them safe," he told Chase, but for a moment, it sounded as though he'd spoken to himself, something which Calvin did not do often, unless he'd been overworked.

Quite suddenly, a small creature sat upon Calvin's shoulder and began to brush itself against Calvin's neck. He looked downward, having been started by the creature, but he made no move to jump away from the thing, or to brush it off of him, as it felt soft and fuzzy against his skin, and Calvin had instinctively associated the feeling with the kind little kittens that Reid had brought home to live with them. If it was a kitten, Calvin did not want to harm it - but what he found when he looked at his shoulder, was not a cat. "Awww," he cooed, and instantly began to cradle the creature in-between his shoulder and what was left of his right ear (an injury that he received at the petting zoo, thanks to one, angry llama). "What is it? Can we keep it? Look at it, Chase! It is so cute!" he exclaimed, momentarily shrugging off his pain in order to pay the piece of fluff the attention that it deserved.

Chase was worried from the get go, and for a moment it was a struggle to see anything or help anything because they were both moving at the same time to try and help each other. "Calvin... No.. Calvin I gotta.. please...." She struggled at the same time as him. He was trying to look at her scars, she was trying to look for scars on him, and it was a mess of tangled words and phrases, body parts and movement for a moment, until it settled down, and Chase started to very carefully, help bring Calvin into a sitting position so that he could breath a bit better. When he mentioned the Cruciatus Curse, Chase froze, and looked at him, worry filling her eyes, looking at his tears, she gently brushed them away with her fingers.

"It's alright.. you can tell me Calvin... you can tell me what happens at your work... It's alright.." Chase smiled and brushed some hair out of his face again. "I know how it feels Calvin... I've been under it way to many times to count. And I still sometimes feel it..." She ghosted her lips across his cheeks again, and busied herself with clearing away the tears on his face. "It's okay Calvin... You are really doing a wonderful job you know... and you are helping so many people.." She felt the need to help him understand that what he was doing was really really good. "You're so brave! I'm so proud of you Calvin." She grinned at him, and ran her fingers through his hair absentmindedly, that was of course.. until all other that was banished by the appearance of the furry little creature.

It looked almost like a perfectly round, furry ball. It could fit into your hand, and didn't appear to have any arms of legs, but it did have an extremely long, crooked tail, which had a bandage around it. It was dark brown, and it seemed to have an attraction to Calvin's scar on his shoulder, the way it curled up right on the spot, and appeared to be licking it.

"Um... we aren't sure actually... it does sort of look like those creatures the Weasley's produced for their shop... but this one is dark brown, so we think someone has attempted to breed them... and by the looks of it, I've found something else this one likes.." She pointed at Calvin and giggled. "Your scar.. We aren't sure what it is.. but.. it was discovered in a raid from another department, and as it's not exactly aggressive, I offered to nurse it back to health. "As you can see.. his.. tail is out of wack.." She said reaching forward to gently pet the little ball. "But don't get me wrong... that is the easiest thing of my day!" She laughed lightly, and then looked back at Calvin, worriedly. "Are you okay Calvin? You're breathing differently, sit up better, that might help.. and erm... let me get you some pillows, I'm making supper tonight, don't you even argue." She demanded and immediately sprung to get some pillows, falling over on her first bound up, but managing to push herself off the ground, and bounded into her bedroom. It seemed that sometimes having to be the adult in the house didn't mean she had lost her ability to be a complete clutz.

Chase’s comforting words met Calvin’s ears, and he was filled with the feeling that he’d done something right, despite the fact that he’d previously felt as though he’d only been a distraction to the other aurors that afternoon. “Do you think so?” He asked Chase, but it was rather difficult to catch the question, as the sentence had been dropped towards the end when Calvin’s attention had been stolen by Chase’s gentle kisses.

With every touch that they shared, the sudden, red color to Calvin’s cheeks became more apparent, until they reached the same shade as Chase’s vibrant hair. Looking as bashful as ever, Calvin met Chase’s gaze, and smiled at her. Adoration twinkled around the edges of Calvin’s brown irises as her effect began to settle in; Chase’s touch seemed to do more good than the numbing potion that Calvin had taken a swig of.

“Thanks,” he breathed, though he had a feeling that Chase would never really know how much he was thanking her for with that one, simple word. Her kindhearted nature, her presence, her smile, her love - the list continued for miles.

Calvin dropped his arm and extended it along the sofa until his fingers met with Chase’s. He intertwined his fingers with hers, and was soothed by the gentle touch shared between them. It was relieving, to have Chase so near after such a torturous day.

Just as Calvin had begun to get used to the trance that he’d slipped in to, however, the fuzzy creature that had joined them began to lick his shoulder, and he could not fight the shrill giggles that began to drift from his lips. “It tickles!” he squealed, and began to squirm in place on the sofa; movement was slowly growing easier on Calvin's body as the numbing potion began to rid him of the deep-rooted ache that had previously plagued him. “Is it going to be OK?” he asked Chase with concern for the strange creature, “Are you going to be able to make him all better? I can help, you know! I can help him too – uh, if you need any help, that is, because this is your job and I wouldn’t want to step on your toes…” Calvin offered, skidding over every word at an unbelievable pace.

“I’m feeling better already!” he informed Chase sincerely, and, under her command, Calvin situated himself so that he was lying with his head atop one of the sofa’s armrests – only to quickly sit up once more in an attempt to catch Chase when she fell. He shot forward, his gangly arms outstretched, but she’d stepped out of his reach, and fell to the carpeted floor. “Chase!” Calvin exclaimed in a panic, despite the fact that there was no sign that she’d been injured when she’d tripped.

Calvin exhaled shakily as Chase picked herself up off of the floor and made her way to her bedroom, his relief overwhelming. There was no telling what could happen with her health those days, and every moment of her recovery was a panic for Calvin.

“OK,” he replied to Chase’s orders quietly, lying down again.

Chase smiled at Calvin as his face got slowly redder and redder, until it was finally the shade of her hair. "I'll never understand why you get so embarrassed." She giggled. "It's not anything bad is it.. do you want me to stop?" Chase looked filled with worry for a moment, as though she had offended him and was incredibly upset that she may not have been listening to his worries or wants enough, she made it a point of asking him nearly every day, what he wanted, and helping to coax more and more out of him, and she was so worried she would accidentally go to far. Worried that she would take it a step farther then he wanted to go.

Chase could feel a smile crossing her face when his fingers intertwined with hers, and she carefully brought their fingers up into view, holding onto them gently, smiling at the feeling they made her feel, almost like... it was cold from where his fingertips came from, making the cold travel all the way through her system and back to her fingers, but in a good way, a fuzzy way that she wasn't quite sure how to explain. It was like she was giddy, and happy and, super excited all at the same time, and she loved the feeling, it was addicting, and it was one addiction that could never go wrong.

Chase nodded at Calvin and gently picked up the creature from his shoulder, which immediately jumped to try and lick the scars on her face. "He'll be fine." She giggled, and shook her head. "He might have got it caught on something... and pulled to hard or whatever.. it wasn't that badly hurt, but we decided he needed some special care, I'm also supposed to evaluate him.. see if he's dangerous, that kind of thing.. though he doesn't appear to be." She laughed and gently set the furry ball on her shoulder, "He'll be just fine.. and you can help too! He'll need fed everyday."

Chase was giggling uncontrollably, mostly because it had been a while since she had actually fallen down from her own clumsiness, but also that Calvin had been so worried for her, over something that happened to him everyday. She was fine, and had barely noticed the fall, but his face.. he had been so worried, and it gave her that giddy, happy, fuzzy feeling in her stomach all over again. The furry ball perched atop her shoulder, and seemed to be able to balance through the long tail that he used like a counterweight to keep his body connected to whatever it was he was sitting on.

Chase quickly gathered up every pillow she could find, and brought them into the front room. "sit up a bit please." She said gently, putting the pillows behind his head, so that he could sit up and be comfortable, but not have to work hard to see around the room at the same time. "There." She said smiling and pointing her wand at the pillows so that they immediatly got fluffy and light, and comfortable, but not to soft that he sunk in them.

"What do you want for dinner tonight Calvin?" Chase asked, perching on the edge of the couch, and gently putting the fuzzy ball onto his lap so he could cuddle it, it really was an adorable pet, and she wondered if it would be okay at all to get them licensed so she could keep this little guy. "Not pancakes again.. we'll have something nice, so that we can both get our strength up." She grinned, and looked at him. "Will you be okay? You took quite a big swig of that numbing potion.. you won't bite your tongue or anything will you?" She asked, worriedly, tucking her wand behind her ear, and her hair behind that, her eyes large as she stared at him.