George grinned as he stepped out of the little blue car
and into the scrubby yard of the Burrow.
He had missed the ramshackle house of many stories, with its Old World
charm and threatening-to-fall-apart-at-any-moment-façade. Then he felt a sharp poke in the back and
was reminded to move aside by a very grumpy Ron, who had had his legs curled up
nearly underneath him the entire ride from Hogsmeade station. After Ron had disentangled himself from the
seating, out poured Maddie and Harry.
From the front seat Ginny, Fred and Hermione exploded, and little
four-seated car breathed out a sigh of relief.
Cautiously opening the jam-packed trunk, Fred distributed the duffel
bags everyone had brought, and they set off to meet the family.
There was the flicker of a curtain at
the window, and a tiny brown head scampered away. They could hear excited squealing from inside, and Ginny grinned
widely, running ahead of the group.
George and Fred shared a small smile.
Elise.
“Oh my goodness, get in here, all of
you! Oh, dears, it’s so good to see all
of you, in good health…” Mrs. Weasley was standing in the doorway, waving
happily and speaking in a tone of relief.
As Ginny embraced her mother, a small little rocket shot out through her
legs and barreled up to the rest of the group.
“UNCLE GEORGE! UNCLE FRED!
UNCLE RON! HI…hi, hi, hi, hi,
hi!!” A tiny girl with curly brown hair,
adorable dimples and eyes a clean pristine blue was throwing herself into
George’s arms. The latter responded by swooping the little package over his
head with one hand, while he used the other to whip out his wand and suspend
her in the air with it. Elise shrieked
and giggled, throwing her arms out and pretending to fly.
“George Micheal Weasley! Put her down this moment!” Both Elise and George looked guilty up to
see Jennifer standing in the window hands on her hips. Fred reached up and plucked Elise from the
air as her mother came storming through the door.
“What have I told you about that! What if the magic slipped? What if she rolled out the spell? You must have had her ten feet in the air…”
George smiled consolingly as he wrapped his arms around his sister-in-law.
“Come on…you know you can’t stay mad
at me,” he joked with her, elbowing her ever so lightly in the ribs. She half smiled, then ruffled Elise’s hair
to show that she wasn’t really angry
with her. “How are you? I heard some stuff about school…” Jennifer
trailed off, looking at George and Fred very solemnly. “We’ll talk later, understood?” George and Fred nodded, then hurriedly
started acting silly, to avoid more seriousness. As Elise was passed from person to person, Charlie, Bill,
Christal, Noah and Mr. Weasley came out of the house to greet the Hogwarts students. Percy was working at the Ministry of Magic
office, but would be joining them for dinner.
“OH, and this must be Maddie. Come here, dear, and let me look at
you.” Maddie stepped timidly through
the crowd of people and smiled at the motherly lady in front of her. Harry had told her about Mrs. Weasley’s
tendency to take in children who needed a place to stay over the holidays, and
had also warned her that the overprotectiveness could be overwhelming, but
Maddie was ready to be fussed over.
Mrs. Weasley hugged her tightly and tucked a stray strand of black hair
behind her ear.
“Well, dearie, I hope you’ll like it
here.”
“I’m
sure I will, and thank you so much for having me,” Maddie answered
politely. Just then, Charlie and Noah
came over, and more introductions were made.
Noah was an active child of six, with bright red hair, skinned knees and
an abundance of freckles. Hermione
smiled as she shook his hand, and then as he ran away, she turned to Ron,
speaking in an undertone.
“He looks just like a little you!” she
exclaimed. Ron rolled his eyes lightly,
but couldn’t totally hide the smile that confirmed her suspicions. The large group of chattering people moved
in the general direction of the house, and Maddie allowed herself to be moved
along with them, feeling happier than she had in months.
(*)
Dinner that night was a joyous
affair. With sixteen people in the
house, it’s quite impossible to eat inside, so two large tables were set
together in the garden, and they ate with fairies flitting around their ears
and garden gnomes racing around their feet.
Maddie enjoyed the happy, relaxed atmosphere where you could lose
yourself without getting lost. The
children’s laughter was like tinkling bells; the adult friendships of Jennifer,
Bill, Charlie and Christal, refreshing.
Washing down the evening with a glass of lemonade, Maddie went into the
family room where everyone was slowly gathering.
“How do you like it so far?” Maddie jumped as the person behind her
whispered in her ear. Whirling around,
she saw George, wearing a comfortable Muggle outfit and grinning widely. The effects of being finally home at last
where getting to him, as well.
“It’s…it’s euphoric,” she whispered
back, still unsure as to why, seeing as they were unlikely to be heard in the
after-dinner din.
“Euphoric, woah, breaking out in the
vocabulary, huh?” George smiled as he
wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her to him for just a second. Although it was certainly not the first time
they had hugged, Maddie still felt a shiver run down her spine and take
residence in her stomach. She was being
held.
“Yes, well, words escape me,” she said
simply, and they sat, reveling in the stillness of the moment. Then they heard a shriek and saw Elise being
tickled by Fred and Ron, Hermione and Harry laughing nearby. Maddie grinned despite the ruined moment,
and George chuckled softly.
“Elise is the baby of the Weasley
family, so she’s spoiled beyond belief.
She’s witty, for a four-year-old, but she got a ton of her mother’s
looks and sensibility. Nothing makes
her happier then getting away with something, though. I guess she’s kind of a mix between Hermione and I, with all the
female qualities, of course. Then,
there’s Noah. A wild little kid, he
loves Quidditch and the like. Always
has a ruddy face, bloody knees and a missing-some-teeth grin. As much as we fuss over Elise, we always
find some time to throw a ball around with him, too.” Maddie digested the information quietly, her head resting on
George’s scratchy sweater, the smell of whatever it was that made him smell so
good intoxicating her senses, the heat of the fire covering her like a blanket,
and she was overcome by the desperate need to simply drift away…
(*)
Jennifer carefully picked her way
through the maze of trunks, pranks, baby toys, shoes, and every other object
one might find in the Weasley hallway, until she was in a close range of the
couch in the family room. She observed
George, sitting very still, and the black-haired girl who was fast asleep on
his chest. Something about the way he
was watching her sleep made a person want to whisper quietly, give someone a
hug, or cry.
There
was some unseen emotion throbbing through the room, and for this reason,
Jennifer was unusually quiet as she entered the room and tenderly sat down. George moved his head a fraction of an inch
to the side and smiled at her. She
smiled back with her mouth, but her eyes screamed for discussion, so George
shifted slightly, awaking Maddie. She
started to roll on her side, and George stroked her hair gently until she was
asleep once more. Then he turned his
full attention to a worried looking Jennifer.
“Oh
God, this is just perfect, of course you’d have to fall in love!” George furrowed his eyebrows concertedly.
“What
are you talking about? You say it like
it’s a bad thing!” Jennifer frowned and
watched Maddie burrow her face a little deeper into the folds of George’s
sweater.
“This
is a chick that comes with a lot of baggage,” she whispered, and George was
once more very confused.
“What
do you know about it?”
“I
went to school with Professor Casserly, the new Ancient Runes teacher. She’s been talking to me about a funny
little girl named Maddie, who, since she arrived from America, has had the
whole school in an uproar.” George
rolled his eyes.
“Any baggage she comes with would be
part of my load even if we were only just friends- that’s what we were before,
and I was a huge part of her life, then, too.
Besides, your friend’s exaggerating.
She hasn’t been getting into that much stuff. It’s a lot of coincidences that people keep linking to her, but
she’s fine…” Jennifer looked dubious.
“Well is that what you came in here to harp on me about?” asked George,
half joking. Jennifer shook her head in
a yes/no way.
“Just about school. The chick Maddie. I had no clue you two were dating- but then, I should have linked
that with the ceiling thing, stupid me.
Oh, by the way, Bill was quite proud of you on that one. I believe his words were ‘following me on my
quest to woo the ladies’” George grinned and Jennifer laughed with him.
“I guess I’m going to head up to
bed. But please, seriously, take things
careful; take things easy. Keep an eye
out. That’s no regular girlfriend
you’ve got under your arm.”
As Jennifer mounted the stairs and
climbed to bed, George regarded the girl under his arm. Of course it wasn’t ‘no regular
girlfriend’. It was Maddie. And with Maddie, it was a whole new
ballpark.
(*)
The moonlight streaming through a
window bore into Maddie’s skin until she groggily opened her eyes. She was in a room somewhere on the Weasley
house, along with Hermione and Ginny, and it was chilly indeed. Sleepily stumbling her way through the room,
she made over to the window and shut it gently. As she did, she was hit with an equally chilling
realization. She was alone. In the broadest sense, seeing as two human
beings were breathing in and out in their slumber behind her, and yet, she was
alone. This was the first time she was
sleeping in a room- without Fred and George and Ron and Harry and her couch and
all the comforts of a boy’s dormitory- in a very long time.
But then, she was a big girl. Maddie detested chauvinism; she would hate
for anyone to think she couldn’t handle a night without the ‘big, strong, men’
to protect her. So, painfully realizing
that George must have carried her up here, Maddie crawled under the covers and
looked around the dark room meekly. She
would be fine.
The room swarmed with a combination of
darkness and eerie moonlight. Every
shadow was Norax and every light beam, his minions. Maddie knew in a tiny of corner of consciousness, that the real
danger of Norax was in her sleep, and yet, she wanted to be mentally as far
away as possible from the creaky old room in the Weasley family home.
The mental battle went on for nearly
an hour. Maddie was torn between a
longing for sleep and an abhorrence of it.
Either way, she couldn’t win.
She knew what she needed, but she was also terrified of the possible
consequences of going out there and getting it. Finally, as a nocturnal bat swooped across her view path out the
window, distorting the light and Maddie’s sense of feminism, she made up her
mind and set out to find George’s room.
(*)
George groaned softly as he made to
roll out of bed. The morning light had
not yet fully taken over the room, but it was a new day and he was anxious to
get up and enjoy it. There was only one
thing in his way. Whatever was lying at
the side of his bed.
“Maddie?” he whispered
incredulously. It was certainly she,
still fully dressed in the robes she had worn from the school, but the reply
was a gentle snoring. Glancing around
the room, George saw Fred stretching to the ceiling and yawning as he did so. As he stepped out of bed, Fred did a double
take at the locks of black hair splaying out wildly across George’s white bed
sheets, then grinned.
“Another nightmare, eh?”
George
rolled his eyes and decided not to waste energy fighting with his twin. Instead, he gently shook Maddie’s shoulder
in an attempt to rouse her. When this
failed, he reached down and carefully brushed her forehead with his lips. Her eyes slowly slid open, and she smiled at
him, outdoing even the virgin dawn rays.
“Got something to tell me, Squirt?” he
asked her softly, and her smile faltered.
He twirled a piece of her hair around her finger as she sat up and
searched for appropriate words.
“Well, you see, I woke up in the
middle of the night, and it was dark, and I was afraid that I was going to live
another nightmare…well, I don’t remember how to actually wake up from one
without you guys there, and I didn’t know…well I thought…I’m sorry…”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s not as if I minded, although I must say
I’m glad I was the one who discovered you, and not my Mum. I’d have some fun explaining that one.”
“Have some fun explaining what?” asked
Charlie from the doorway. “Oh, er, good
morning, Maddie.”
“’Morning Charlie! Just taking an early morning tour of the
house. Guess I’ll see you at breakfast
then!” With that, Maddie smoothly
disentangled herself from the blankets and breezed past an open mouthed
Charlie, out the door. Charlie watched
her leave, then turned to George with an intuitive look.
“Early morning tour, eh?” he asked
with a wink. George let out an exasperated
sigh.
“I’m not-“
“Never mind, I don’t even want to
know,” Charlie cut him off, “although I must say, she is quite good at that
innocent act. Bet she gets away with a
ton at school?” Fred nodded sagely.
“Listen, guys, I’m not-“
“Anyway,”
Charlie said pointedly, “I was just coming in to tell you guys that Mum is
taking us to Diagon Alley this afternoon, and she wants everyone ready to leave
by noon. Okay?” Both boys nodded and Charlie yawned.
“Get much sleep?” asked George
conversationally.
“Nah, I was giving Christal a tour,”
remarked Charlie with a mischievous grin, then he ducked out of the room before
the pillows could assault him further.
(*)
The morning went fairly uneventfully,
save Charlie teasing the pants off of George and Maddie, in a very tour-coded
way. Once he had tired of that,
though, the household piled one by one into the fireplace and set off for
Diagon Alley.
It was Maddie’s first time on the
illustrious avenue, and she walked slowly along it, drinking in the sights and
sounds of the happy wizarding world.
She enjoyed the wide variety of people, stores and general distractions
from what had made her life such a hell for the past few months. Of course, every now and then they would
hear snatches of gossip about the investigation of Hogwarts, or the death of
June Moore, but someone would always raise their voice to drown out the sound
as they hurried away.
About an hour into the trip, the party
split up into more age appropriate groups, to give the parents and adult
children ‘some quiet time’. The
littlest kids were distributed among the teenagers, and Maddie and George ended
up with Noah.
“Meet us at the Leaky Cauldron in an
hour! Be there at two, don’t
forget!” Mrs. Weasley called after the
dispersing people as they all went separate ways. “And stay away from Knockturn Alley!”
“So, Shortyfries, where are we
headed?” Maddie took George’s hand and
shook her head vaguely.
“I haven’t the slightest. This is your territory, not mine. But I would love to take you Boston- now
that would a fun day.” George smiled
and used his free hand to brush her hair out of her face. Now that he felt he had a little more
freedom, he had been taking advantage of it and finding every excuse to touch
Maddie’s hair. So far, she hadn’t been
resisting. As he contemplated the
actual boundaries of the current relationship, George felt a little hand grab
his wrist and wrench his hand from Maddie’s.
He looked down to see Noah, smoothly moving in between him and Maddie,
taking her hand and smiling up at her.
Maddie glanced across at George for direction, but he was to busy
stifling his chuckles to come up with anything. Maddie swallowed, unsure, and simply listened as Noah chattered
away, pointing out sights along the cobblestone walkway.
"There's Quality Quidditch
Supplies! I got my first broomstick
there. And Florean Fortescue's Ice
Cream Parlor- they have yummy peanut butter sundaes…and Zonko's Joke Shop…they
have all sorts of silly tricks in there…Mommy doesn't like that store very
much, but I think it’s cool, and Daddy does too, 'cept he'll never say that
around Mommy." Maddie bit down
hard on her tongue to keep from laughing at loud at Noah's childhood innocence.
They walked for a few more yards in this fashion until they reached the
Shrieking Shack.
"It's haunted," whispered
Noah in an awed tone. "There used
t be all sorts of creepy things in there, but for a long time, it’s been all
quiet and…creepy."
"I see," said Maddie
faintly, looking around. She wasn't feeling
too well, and the walk had, to be honest, slightly bored her. She reached down and picked up Noah, who
started to protest that he was old enough to walk, then realized that he was on
eye level with Maddie and grinned his gap-toothed grin with relish.
"You're pretty," said Noah
abruptly. George started laughing
again, and Maddie did blinked in surprise.
"Oh, er- well, thank you,"
she said. George, finally getting
himself under control, reached over and took Noah, who looked less pleased at
the current eye level view.
"Come on kid, we need to get you
some to occupy yourself with."
"But I don't wanna be
'pied!" Noah insisted, but he changed his tune when faced by the elusive
Zonko's Joke Shop racks. Once they had
made their selections (Screaming Ink-Secreting Socks and Nose-Biting Teacups)
George hustled Noah out of the store quickly, making him swear that he wouldn't
tell his mother where he had obtained the brightly colored packages. By the time they were finished with the
whole ordeal it was time for the meeting back at the Leaky Cauldron, and the
three hustled across the alleyway, Noah hanging off of Maddie's arm with a
silly smile on his face. Once they
reached the bar, they saw Mr. Weasley standing up, excitedly waving a piece of
paper that looked like it had been pulled off a telephone poll or bulletin
board.
"A Muggle fair!" he
cried. "We're going to a Muggle
fair!" George raised an eyebrow
and looked quizzically at Mrs. Weasley, who sighed and put her head in her
hands.
"He found this advertisement on
the ground and hasn't stopped going on about it since he picked it up. Seems there's going to be a big
festival-type thingy right outside Otter St. Catchpole this weekend, and your
father thinks it would be 'simply wonderful' if we could all go." Mr. Weasley overheard his wife and leaned
over her shoulder enthusiastically.
"What else are we going to do,
all of us cooped up in the house in front of the fire all evening? We'd be doing nothing but sitting in
silence, all night, that's what!"
"Sounds perfect to me,"
muttered George to Maddie, but his smile showed that Mr. Weasley's enthusiasm
was catching. Christal and Charlie
joined the group, and on seeing the paper in Arthur's hand, exclaimed,
"Ooh, the Spring Advent Festival! Everyone's
dying to go this at home- it's supposed to be really fun." Mr. Weasley gave George a pointed look that
clearly said, 'See?'
In the end, they decided they would go
to the fair, and made up a meeting time of seven that night. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Mrs. Weasley, Bill,
Jennifer, and Elise decided that they would stay and shop a little longer, and
the rest decided t g home before they met at the fair that night. As they stepped through the fireplace, Maddie
exhaled loudly. Constantly moving again-
but it hadn't felt this god in a very long time.
(*)
They were lying in the tall grass on
the makeshift Quidditch pitch behind the Burrow. Maddie had her head on George's stomach, and his hands were
tangled in her hair, as usual. They
were contemplating the beauty f twilight, and deciding the shapes of the slowly
moving clouds, and doing all the things that couples should do but rarely get
to.
"Maddie, when's the last time you
had a nightmare?" George asked the question very suddenly, and Maddie
rolled over so her chin was in his chest and she was facing him.
"Um, the night after Shane and
you had that really big fight. Fred-
no, Ron woke me up. I haven't had a
single one in the Burrow, though.
Why?"
"Because I worry about you. I want you to tell me everything,
okay?" George was solemn and
causing Maddie to become steadily uncomfortable.
"Well, sure, of course. What brought this on?"
"I was sitting here, thinking
what my life would be like with no Maddie.
And then that made me think of all the times I woke you up from
nightmares. The worst thing that I
could ever see would be that look of terror on your face, right before you
realized that you were safe, right before you realized that I was there. And I realized that I always want to be
there when you wake up. Even if I'm not
the one to wake you up, I at least want to be there."
"Does that mean I get to sleep in
your room again tonight?" Maddie asked with a ghost of a smile playing on
her lips. George grinned and kissed her
forehead lightly.
"I suppose. Just make sure you get my bed, and not
Fred's." He winked, they laughed,
and for the moment, life was good.
(*)
Brightly
colored lights were flashing at a dizzy rate, laughter was running rampant in
the air, the smells of fried food and sweet sugar candies were weaving a web
around the heads of the patrons, and the huge metal structures called rides
were singing an enticing tune to the children as they passed. The clan had arrived at the fair.
Welcoming in was a large sign that
read 'Spring Advent Festival: Fun for All Ages!’ Elise squealed excitedly as they passed an exhibit of farm
animals, and Noah was in awe of the glow-stick necklaces some older boys were
showing off as they passed. Mrs.
Weasley clucked at the noise and hubbub, but a large tent full of homemade
quilts, jams, pickled vegetables and other home stuffs caught her eye and
stopped her mid-cluck. Bill and
Jennifer were busy keeping track of the two over excited youngsters and Charlie
and Christal were already walking over to the Maple Sugar House. Mr. Weasley, needless to say, was in his
element, jumping up and down and waving his arms excitedly about.
"Just look at all this! Isn't it wonderful? I bet Harry here's seen some of this
wonderful whatnot." Harry smiled
ruefully.
"The Dursley's weren't quite big
on taking me places, especially not for entertainment purposes. Besides, if we ever did come to a fair we
would never get past the food booths with Dudley." Mr. Weasley looked crestfallen, but a glance
at the Zipper made his face as bright as the sun once more.
"Ooh, let's do that!" he
said keenly, and Hermione made a face.
"I don't think so…at least not
right now…" Ron poked her in the side teasingly.
"What, Hon, isn't there some book
that teaches how to get over a fear of heights?" Hermione shot him a Look and shook her head again.
"I think I'm going to help
Jennifer and Bill by taking Elise and Noah on some tamer rides. Why don't you come along, Hon?" Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist
and led him away amid muttered complaints and protests. Harry followed, chuckling at Hermione's
smooth change of subject. Scooping
Elise onto his shoulders he winked at Ron, who was grabbing Noah's hand, then
waved over at Maddie and George.
"Catch you later?" he
called, and was answered by several nods.
Bill and Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief in unison.
"Well, this is a welcome change
of plans. Why don't we see what sort of
trouble we can get ourselves into?" said Bill mischievously. Jennifer struggled with a stern mask for a
few seconds, and then her face exploded into a bright smile and she linked arms
with her husband.
"I can't remember the last time
we had a date," she mentioned dreamily, then turned around to lock eyes
with George. Be good! She mouthed, and Bill followed with a wink as some sort of
muttered comment having to do with tours.
George punched him, Jennifer elbowed him, and Maddie gave Bill a curious
look as the couple walked away.
"Well," drawled George,
"I think that leaves just me, you-"
"And your dad," cut in
Maddie, pointing to the childlike man standing a few strides away. Head bent
back and mouth wide open as he regarded the mammoth metal structures, Mr.
Weasley made a laugh-worthy picture.
Maddie grinned and left George's side to go stand near him.
"Want to go on it?" she
asked softly, and he jumped, then saw her and nodded vigorously.
"It looks a bit frightening, but
simply amazing at the same time! I- well- will you go on with me?" he
asked abashedly, but she smiled in delight and waved George over.
"We're going on," she
motioned to the Zipper in the background and George's eyes widened. "Will you hold my purse?" Nodding mutely, George watched his father
and his girlfriend skip over to the line, giggling uncontrollably. As they neared the ticket-taker, Mr. Weasley
(with some assistance from Maddie) gave the correct Muggle bills, and they
climbed into one of the swinging cages with slight apprehensiveness.
"You're sure this is quite
safe?" asked a timid Mr. Weasley.
Maddie nodded.
"This is one of my favorite
rides. Get ready to taste your stomach
lining!" With that slightly
disgusting and even more off-putting proclamation, Mr. Weasley gripped the bars
in front of him and gulped. The ride
began.
Whirling, swirling colors and
sounds. The experience of flipping
upside and over and over and over, with no control over the wild flops. Laughter and nausea at the same time- Mr.
Weasley was having the time of his life, and making the fact clear by his shrieks. By the time it was finally over, he had
nearly thrown up, nearly wet his pants and nearly screamed himself hoarse. As they stumbled out onto the platform and
down the exit stairs, George rushed over.
"Are you guys okay? I heard screaming…"
"That's the point, George! It's such a wonderful time- I could do it
again and again- oh, for a million days to go on fair rides! What will we do next? What- oh…" Mr. Weasley stared at
George, who was staring at Maddie's bright eyes and flushed cheeks with an odd
look in his eyes, realization spreading through him quickly. "I expect you
too would like a little time alone, eh?
So sorry about that…got carried away.
Well, you to enjoy yourselves, I'll meet back here a little
later." And he disappeared into
the teeming crowd.
"What did you do?" asked
Maddie in an accusing tone. George held
up his hands.
"I didn't make him leave. Now stop making it sound like it's going to
be such a hardship, having a little 'us' time." Maddie allowed his arm to slip around her waist and grinned and
she shook her hair over his arm.
"I suppose it could be
worse…" she smiled at him and as he moved to kiss her, then turned her
head and caught it right on the tip of her nose. George frowned as she giggled again, playing the elusive girl he
hadn't expected he'd ever see.
"Tease," he muttered, and
she raised her eyebrow in a mock stern look.
"Not in the middle of a fair
grounds," she said firmly, "A girl has her dignity. I think we should find a nice- ah, that'll do." She grasped his wrist and began hauling him
over to the Ferris wheel nearby.
"Oh no, not a chance Missy- no
way you're getting me on one of those metal thingies." Maddie dropped his wrist and wheeled
around to face him. Taking a deep breath,
she underwent an immediate change that was breathtaking. Her eyes became pits of sorrow, her mouth
turned delicately down and her whole poise slightly drooped. She looked up gently at George and he puffed
up with indignant anger as the picture of a wilted rose filled his thoughts.
"Maddie, don't do this. Come on, we'll go for a walk, we can go get
some fudge and- stop it, Maddie!" He was now staring furiously at the
ground, but he could hear her tiny, pathetic sniffling noises and finally
shouted, "FINE! I hate it when you
do that." Grinning now, Maddie
lead the way and they cautiously climbed into a swinging cart.
"Maddie, I want to get out,"
said George as the door clanged shut behind him. He spun around, looked at how far away he was from the ground,
and buried his head in Maddie's hair.
She laughed and pushed his head back so she could face him.
"Please Maddie, I don't want to
see over the sides," he begged.
She smiled and nodded.
"Don't worry. I didn't bring you up here for the
view." George leaned back a bit in
surprise, all heights forgotten.
"Well, well, well. Quite the mischievous one, aren't we? And what exactly did you have in mind?"
"Hmm, don't know really. I thought that I would somehow get my
boyfriend alone, scare him out of his wits so he would be forced to cling to
me, and then see where it went from there…we'll have to use our
imagination." George nodded, mock
analyzing the situation.
"Inventive, quite inventive. I must say, there are some serious gaps in
'The Plan', but I'm sure that we can figure out some sort of filler…" he
paused for a moment, then leaned down and brushed his lips across her jaw bone,
causing a shiver to run down her spine.
She bit her lower lip as he made a line of tiny kisses right up to her
waiting mouth. He leaned back and
rested his chin atop her head.
"So, anything we need to go over?" he asked.
"I'm a little foggy on that last
part- think we could run through it again?" Maddie felt rather than saw George's smile, and as his lips
slipped across her face again, she couldn't help thinking that somehow, there
wouldn't be any nightmares tonight.