(Untitled)

[onceacop]

Her meeting with her Prefect partner had gone... oddly at best, she supposed, but at least she liked the guy. Still, this whole thing had spiraled a little bit out of control, and she had ended her day frustrated and tense and cranky and also wound up

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[dresdenfile]

"Mmmph."

I woke up enough to register Murphy's voice, though it took my brain a minute to process her question. "Sure," I said blearily, rolling over. "What's up?" Murphy had had trouble sleeping in the past, I knew, but I hadn't thought it would follow her here.

[onceacop]

"... no you're not." She gave him a little half-smile and shook her head. "Sorry." She didn't leave, though. She stepped the rest of the way into his room and shut the door behind her. "I probably could have knocked."

[dresdenfile]

"Nah, see, I would've thrown a shoe at the door," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. "This way I know it's you, and not insomniac Thomas." Yawning, I sat up, but didn't reach for the bedside lamp--I wasn't ready to blind myself just yet. "What's up?" If Murphy was visiting me at this ungodly hour, something was up.

[onceacop]

Her eyes adjusted to the dark pretty fast, and she padded across the floor and sat on the edge of his bed. Just so they could talk, you know. "I'm just feeling a little...." she waved a hand. She'd never admit to being overwhelmed. "There's a lot of crazy here, Dresden."

[dresdenfile]

"No kidding," I said. "I thought the world was weird enough before I came here." I rubbed my face, trying to wake up. "What in particular have you run into? Something bad?" 'Crazy' I knew Murph could handle; 'bad' was much more likely to bother her.

[onceacop]

"No, no, just Marcone," she shrugs a little. "And that's part of the weird, by the way. I know he's got to be up to something, but part of me thinks he's not really up to something, you know? He and I are... getting along." She frowns. "And then the elections... they just brought home to me how long I'm intending on staying here."

[dresdenfile]

That made me really sit up. Marcone and Murphy, getting along? I was amazed the world hadn't spun off its axis.

"Well, much as I hate to admit it, Marcone's human, too," I said. "He has a life outside of being a criminal--though probably not much of one," I added, rather dryly.

I leaned back against the headboard, turning over her words, troubled. I liked it here--the Council wasn't breathing down my throat, and nothing had tried to kill me in months. I wouldn't mind staying for a while, but I should have realized Murphy would have a problem with it. "Well," I said, searching for the right words--no easy task, sleepy as I was--"maybe part of the reason you worked to get voted Prefect was because you wanted to stay a while. I don't think home is going to go to utter hell without us--I don't think that's how it works, when you get pulled here."

[onceacop]

"He's really human. And his sense of humor..." she trailed off with a little rueful smile. "We're going to start this dueling club again, and I really can't wait to spar against him."

She pulls her robe closer. "No, that's just it, Dresden. I don't regret it. I just committed to being here for the long haul -- they can have my position only when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers -- and I don't regret it. I'm worried about everyone back home, but I think... I'm kind of starting to be comfortable here." She shivers a little. "So now I'm worried that... I don't know. Stockholm Syndrome? Or am I just actually happy?"

[dresdenfile]

A dueling club. Murphy, sparring against Marcone. I would pay to see that.

...Maybe I could sell tickets.

I had to laugh a little. "Murph, you're the only person I know who, when confronted with happiness, wonders if there's something wrong with you," I said. "But really, I kind of know what you mean. When you deal with...when you deal with fear and stress and uncertainty for so long, having it taken away is a little...scary."

[onceacop]

"... oh hush," she says, a little grumpy, and then shivers again. That's it. "Scoot over," she demands, sliding out of her slippers and then shifting so she could curl up under the blanket next to him. Mm, that's much better. "God, you're like a space heater. But, yeah. Part of me is waiting for the calm to get blown away by the storm."

[dresdenfile]

...

....

Wow. Okay, wait. Murphy plus bed plus me equals somebody Upstairs likes torturing me. A LOT.

Perhaps fortunately, I was too tired to be as tortured as I might normally have been. I was warm and sleepy and comfortable, and having Murphy next to me only added to that. I mean, yeah, there was plenty I would have liked to do, but I was tired enough that not doing it wasn't murder on my self-control.

"Wizards are furnaces," I said, pulling the blankets up around her. "I think it's why Mister adopted me in the first place."

[onceacop]

"Smart cat." She closes her eyes and settles into the blanket. "Thanks," she adds, once she's all tucked in next to him, voice already a little lazy. "You have a nice bed. More comfortable than mine." And it has nothing to do with how nice it is to have another person in bed with her, of course. Harry, with his arms almost around her as he tucks up the blanket.

She shifts to move closer to the warmth -- to him. "So. Yeah. I can't sleep."

[dresdenfile]

Neither can I, now, I thought. Comfortable as I was, sleepy as I was, I was probably too keenly aware of the fact that it was Murphy next to me. I'd never, ever tell her, but as I put one arm around her I felt quite happily possessive, in themy Murphy. Mine. Get your own sort of way.

I was going to say something--something brilliant, really, I was certain of it--but Mister chose that moment to bound up onto the foot of the bed, landing on my feet and making the springs groan. He sniffed at Murphy, gave me an approving glance, and settled down next to my feet, purring like a motorboat. "Looks like nobody's sleeping tonight," I said, nudging the cat with my foot even as I pulled Murphy closer.

[onceacop]

Murphy opened one eye and gave Mister a sort of odd little smile. Look, I have a witness. This is my boldness-in-love quotient for the week. She shifted and let him pull her to his chest, curling up and pushing her cheek against his shoulder.

"What, does Mister make you nervous?" She's teasing, eyes closed again. "Or are we crowding you?"

[dresdenfile]

I grinned into the dark. "No, but he'll keep that purring up all night. And it only gets louder." My good hand reached up to touch her hair, fingers twining sleepily in the soft strands. "And just wait till you wake up with him sitting on your chest. He makes me dream that I'm suffocating."

[onceacop]

She had to laugh, a little sleepy sound, and she reached up to pat his chest. "Don't worry, Dresden. I'll save you from the big bad kitty."