Strong, late morning sunshine greeted Jasmine's itchy, sleepy eyes upon opening them, intensified by the white mounds of comforter bundled around her. She inhaled deeply against the pillow beneath her head and hummed quietly, a silly, girly smile curving her lips. It was alright that she had not woken up next to him a second time, especially since the first experience had garnered such favorable results. A dull, pleasurable ache between the apex of her thighs seemed to throb in response to this thought as it flitted through her mind. She allowed her eyes to close again, rolling from her side onto her stomach, taking a deep breath in of Severus' scent from his pillow.

Earlier that morning, everything about it, had been a dream, the best possible thing that could have happened for them, in her opinion. She had wanted him for so long, fallen so hard for him, wanted nothing more than to express all of it to him, but had been so afraid… Possibly he had felt the same all along? It was true that he had attempted to stop a few times, but Jasmine had not allowed him, knowing that his only reasons for doing so were noble and rather pointless since she was fall-down, flat-out crazy for him. If he had shown any genuine interest in ceasing, she would have done so immediately, of course, but it had not been very difficult at all to encourage him to keep going. She had wanted him, and he had wanted her, in equal measure.

What a relief that was!

It was difficult not to giggle aloud as Jasmine's world blossomed with new possibilities, all made possible by the fact that they had finally been intimate, finally 'confessed' their feelings for each other. They had not used their words, but she was not complaining and there was a very good chance Severus was not either. However, this left an eventuality that she would still need to say something about how long she had wanted to be with him on a deeper level than friendship. Hell, she had already stated once to herself that she was falling in lo-

No.

Not that. Not yet.

Severus was one of the most private people she had ever known, keeping his own emotions very near and dear to his heart; he played everything extremely close to the vest so to speak. Jasmine felt that were she to jump that quickly into the L-word, it could startle him and backfire on her, sending the progress they had made spiraling in reverse. No, she would have to play it cool a bit longer. It was fortunate indeed, though, that they were already such close, best friends, so that if she let the L-word slip on accident, he would likely play it off or ignore it, not run for the hills.

The whole time this most private of conversations was raging inside her mind, the more aware Jasmine's senses became of her surroundings as her brain began to stir from its fog. Her ears picked up the distant, muffled sound of birds chirping outside the windows, traffic rumbling in a low roar several floors below, her olfactory nerves tingling as the scent of brewing coffee drifted into the bedroom through the cracked door. Her empty, grumbling stomach turned over as she imagined walking out into the living room or kitchen to find him standing there, looking handsome, beyond sexy in a post-coitus, masculine glow. Maybe she could walk up and wrap her arms around him without skipping a beat.

Maybe it would not be the most awkward morning of her life.

The idea to stay in bed and let him come find her was tempting, but the smell of the coffee had triggered a hunger mechanism in her, signaling that if she did not eat soon, they would both be sorry. Not to mention the fact that she felt as though she could, and needed to, drink an entire gallon of water in one go. She swallowed back an unsatisfying drop of anxiety instead and rolled twice to the edge of his massive bed. As she stood, her eyes dropped to a lump of gray fabric, discarded and abandoned in the midst of the jumbled sheets; his shirt from only a few hours previously…the shirt he had removed in order to let her run her hands over his body…She applied it hastily along with clean shorts he had brought from her place, and attempted to arrange her features into something other than a goofy grin before slowly edging the door open and peering around it.

The apartment was quiet, the smell of strong coffee intensifying as she ventured forth, eyeing the inconspicuous door to his 'secret lab' on her way. She still wanted to see that, but there were much more important matters at hand first. More fresh sunlight streamed through the balcony doors, across the living room and hallway leading to the kitchen, giving his apartment an entirely different look in the daytime. It was much lighter, not nearly as dark and ominous when the sun was up, his bookshelves less intimidating somehow. She felt another distracting tug toward them, having never finished her perusal, but as she turned the corner into the living room, her breath hitched in her chest, all thoughts of reading gone.

Severus was outside on the patio with his back to her, leaned forward slightly at the railing, a black mug of coffee rested on the surface before him, the steam of it joined by a thin trail of cigarette smoke from between his fingers. Her heart flung itself at the inside of her chest, begging her to take it closer to him, walk up behind him without hesitation and wrap her arms around his middle, press her cheek to his warm back. A summer breeze blew past the screenless patio, rustling a bit of his hair, which he had failed to put back, and it lay in messy, black waves between his broad shoulders, blending in with the dark t-shirt he had applied. Another clean pair of soft, cotton pants had replaced the ones from earlier and sat low about his hips. His weight shifted idly from one leg to the other, the muscles along his spine tensing and relaxing beneath the material with the motion. His head turned the opposite way, watching the traffic below from behind pensive, dark eyes.

Ah. Brooding.

It was tempting right then to turn away and dash back to his bedroom, perhaps take a quick shower, hide until he seemed more…approachable… But no! Why should she hide from him now? Less than four hours earlier, she had begged him to touch her, kiss her, make love to her. She had lay there spread bare for him and watched him admire her. Why should she go shy now? This was her best friend, the non-blood-related person she trusted more than anyone else…and she wanted to kiss him good morning.

Severus turned at the sound of the door sliding open slowly, squinting handsomely at her in the late morning sun, creating a smirk; whether it was a good smirk or a bad smirk, she was not sure yet. She supposed she should have taken another moment to come up with something clever and funny to say to break the immediate tension, but she had not and now silence reigned. Once she finally stepped outside fully and slid the door shut behind her, she turned to him, hands behind her back, clutching the handle as he watched her, his lips still curved into that charming yet difficult to read grin.

She could do nothing but smile at him, no matter what other option she may have had. She couldn't help it.

"Hi," she breathed, motionless, more than ten feet away from him, on opposite sides of the patio. Another warm breeze lumbered past, rustling her wild curls.

His smirk morphed beautifully to return a gentle, genuine smile.

"Hi," he replied, the bass in his voice deepened by how recently he must have woken.

She walked toward him, extending her arms to curl around his waist only once she had reached him and it was clear to her that he was accepting of the affection. He returned the embrace by linking his fingers together behind her back and closing his arms around her shoulders, holding her close to him. It was fortunate indeed that he had pulled her as close as he had, as he could not see the ridiculous grin that nearly split her face in half when his lips made contact with the very top of her head through her poofy curls.

"I didn't wake you?" he asked, and Jasmine suppressed another shiver as his voice dripped English accent and inflection, his chest rumbling against her cheek. It was one of the many things she had been excited for in coming to find him. The way he spoke was continuously attractive to her, no matter how 'used to it' she pretended to be.

She shook her head against his chest, closing her eyes as sunshine pelted the shaded patio around them and silence lay upon them again.

After a few long moments, it grew too warm to stand that close and Jasmine took a step back from him, struggling to tuck a crazy portion of curls away from her face. Severus looked away from her out over the city below, taking a long sip from his coffee. Unsure what else to say, Jasmine panicked, unwilling to let it get awkward that quickly, after so little interaction.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked quite needlessly, as evidenced by the look of polite incredulity that passed over Severus' features, his lips curving again. Her cheeks grew warm as she watched him take a deep pull from his cigarette and against her will, a giggle escaped her from behind the hands she had clamped in front of her mouth.

"I slept very well indeed," he grumbled on a thin stream of smoke, grinning as she looked away from him, struggling hard not to blush and failing miserably.

Within a few seconds, however, Severus was also grunting a laugh, a quiet, deep thing that caused him to lean forward once again on the railing, rubbing a few fingers across his forehead. He shook his head while Jasmine continued giggling, until at last, she burst into the most ridiculous chorus of laughter. She could not help it! It was just too funny, and she was just too happy, too relieved that he was not acting negatively toward her for whatever reason.

Despite this, Jasmine still felt she had to ask, while the mood was light, to prevent it from turning into a heavier conversation if put off or neglected. She could not allow herself to fall more deeply for him if there was any sort of unspoken feelings toward what had happened. As the laughter died down, she spoke again.

"I'm assuming you don't regret it then," she said quietly, squinting up at him in the light as he took a deep breath, focusing much too hard on flicking ash from the end of his cigarette. Her stomach plummeted to her ankles as the amused smile faded from his face and something altogether more serious gathered there.

Oh, no…

"Of course I don't regret it," he answered firmly, bringing his eyes back to hers, staring at her directly as he said it. She saw no dishonesty or hesitation there. "I'm just…surprised, I suppose."

He looked away again momentarily to flick the ember from the end of the spent cigarette, which he then Vanished with a quiet 'pop'. Jasmine watched him do this, feeling a tiny bit of tension release from the newly formed knot in her stomach.

"Surprised?" she questioned. "Why surprised?"

He shrugged, picking up his mug of coffee once more to turn from the patio railing toward the table and cushioned chairs across the porch from them. She watched him go, wishing he would not. Her stomach lurched like she had missed a step going downstairs; this was not how she had wanted this conversation to go.

Across from her, after another sip of his coffee, Severus shrugged again, angular shoulders rising and dropping as he focused his gaze on the slow spin of his hovering coffee mug, turning it lazily with the tips of his fingers. She so wished he would look at her.

"I just wasn't expecting it to happen so…" He hesitated, his eyes narrowing.

"Quickly?" Jasmine supplied after a few moments, when it seemed like even he was not sure what he was trying to say.

He looked up from the coffee mug to her face again.

"Yes," he concurred.

Jasmine felt a tiny smirk tug on the corners of her lips, and she folded her arms across her chest and the gray material of Severus' own shirt.

"Unexpectedly?" she supplied yet another word, her smirk growing as his rather stony expression began to break. One of his eyebrows quirked upward.

"That as well…"

"Amazing?"

As this word left her mouth in a very dramatic sort of way, she could not help but allow a silly giggle to slip past as well, watching as her best friend's eyes flashed at the insinuation. The floating mug thudded to the tabletop and sloshed rich, brown liquid over the edges. Fortunately, he grinned, looking much younger somehow as he linked his fingers between his knees.

"Yes," he agreed after a few more moments of hesitation.

Jasmine pounced on it.

"So, what is there to be unsure about?" she asked, shrugging petite shoulders and simultaneously feeling the bottom of his shirt tickle the topmost backs of her thighs. Ignoring this, she continued, "Seems to me like…I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong, I just…"

She paused to take a deep breath, struggling to ignore the way Severus had begun smirking that shitty grin he got when she was flustered and losing control of her train of thought.

"If it was a mistake, I mean…I don't see how. I thought-"

Now he was standing up, rising from the chair, abandoning his coffee, his snide smirk more intense than ever as she faltered under his tall gaze. He moved toward her, across the few steps between them. Her words really did fail her. When one of his hands moved to the side of her neck, beneath her hair, warm against her skin, she blanked out entirely and blurted, "You kissed me first."

If he had been at all surprised by her open, blunt accusation, he did not show it, but instead arched one eyebrow, grinning one of the most handsome things she had ever seen on his face. He nodded, moving his left hand to join its opposite at the curve of her neck.

"Yes, I did," he replied smartly, both of his thumbs moving to glide down the front of her neck and over her throat.

She swallowed in response, unable to stop her eyes from flickering downward to his lips and back up. "Are you gonna do it again?" she asked, much quieter, while Severus grunted a laugh.

"Yes, I am," he responded once more, very matter of factly before touching his lips to hers, cradling her head with both of his hands, tight curls parted by long fingers.

Jasmine positively melted into his kiss, her breath escaping her nose quietly against his cheek, mingled heavily with both relief and satisfaction. It would seem they were, and perhaps always had been, on the same page.

After a few long, exhilarating moments of reveling in the way Jasmine had greeted him, in the way she had once more sought him out seeking affection, Severus had to pull away from her lips with a breathless laugh as her stomach gave an almighty growl between them. It was audible even over the din of the traffic below and Jasmine flushed heavily pink as she giggled, clutching her empty belly. The hands he had wound into her hair dropped to her delicate shoulders where he allowed his warm palms to rest.

"Hungry?" he asked needlessly but was otherwise too wildly mad about her at that moment to trust himself with something more clever.

As evidence of this, Jasmine's eyebrows contracted into a teasing arch, her own hands reaching out to rest on his narrow waist.

"Jeez, you must be a doctor or somethin'," she replied playfully, giggling again as he rolled his eyes.

"What would you like?" he asked, reluctantly releasing hold of her for the time being so they could walk back inside. "I don't have much here in the way of groceries, I'm afraid."

Jasmine turned to look at him with a shrug once she had made it to the hallway entrance. "Well…I have been sort of meaning to make you buy me breakfast…" she began jokingly, her eyes alight with how deeply happy she was. It was infectious. "Especially after what you did to me…"

When she continued, Severus felt his stomach lurch with excitement at just the quick, fleeting thought of exactly what they had done only a few hours earlier. His eyebrows arched as he took a few steps toward her.

"What I did?" he repeated with a nasty grin, pursuing her further as she bounced her way down his hallway away from him, toward his bedroom. "What about what you did? Coming here in the dead of night looking pitiful…"

The moment these words left his mouth, Jasmine froze only a few feet onto the bedroom carpet, her eyes wide and suddenly dimmed slightly. He too came to a stop, his shoulders straightening and his empty, uncomfortable guts clenching as they both seemed to realize the same thing at the same time; why she had come there in the first place.

They had been so busy and excited to celebrate a newfound avenue to their relationship, the sharing of feelings and ideas long held from one another, that both had allowed the traumatic case at the hospital to fall to the very back of their minds. Whether this had been conscious or not, Severus was unsure, but at the moment, he found himself unwilling to allow this day to crumble because of it. The boy had died, they had not; there was nothing else to be done for it.

Closing the space between them with a few steps, he wrapped his arms around her, thankful for the ready-made excuse to touch her again. He felt he could not get enough of it. Surprisingly, however, she spoke before he did.

"I hope you understand why I came over…" she murmured quietly, a bit sheepishly against the material of his shirt. "It wasn't to…make you do anything or…obviously, any of what happened-"

The uncertainty and hint of what sounded like shame in her voice was so unlike her and so out of the mood that he interrupted, leaning away to grin softly down at her, tucking a few wild, slept-on curls away from her face.

"Of course, I do," he answered. "I'm glad you did."

Fortunately, the moment passed without lasting effects on her mood, as Jasmine's sweet, excited smile returned to her lips, her hands resting gently on his chest. "Good," she replied. "So, where do you want to go for breakfast?"

Severus let out a low groan and released his hold on her, only to collapse backward onto his cushy, unmade bed with a slight bounce. "Go?" he repeated, bringing both fists up to rub his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere today." He then lifted only his head to look down at Jasmine where she still stood at the foot of the bed, grinning at him. "You're not either as far as I'm concerned."

Finally, Jasmine took the hint and let out a giggle as she leaned forward to climb up the bed toward his face, where she plopped down onto her side next to him. Her fingers threaded into the top of his soft hair and his eyes closed with a content grumble, basking in the touch which she could so freely lavish upon him now.

"I like that idea," she replied gently.

After a delicious, filling breakfast (it was more toward lunch at the time but neither cared), Jasmine took their empty containers into the kitchen to the garbage and returned a moment later, smirking at him cheekily.

"So, do I get to see the secret magic lab now?" she asked, leaning against the corner of the wall to the hallway. She shrugged one shoulder, her grin expanding to show teeth. "I mean…you have seen me naked…"

Again, Severus felt his now comfortably full stomach give a lurch, remembering the first moment he had removed her tank top from her and the beautiful, perfect breasts he had revealed to himself. He smirked, rising from the couch to join her at the entrance to the hall leading to his lab and bedroom. Jasmine did not back away from him but merely tilted her head further back to continue watching him as he approached, a vague flush of pink rising in her cheeks.

"Indeed," he finally responded, resting one hand on the wall beside her head. "I did. But in fairness, you also saw me naked…"

At this, Jasmine let out a short laugh and patted him on the arm, nodding her head in a mockingly solemn sort of way. "Which is why you should probably let me see the lab."

Severus burst into one of his genuine laughs, his hand sliding from the wall to his side lamely as he took a step back from her. Jasmine joined him in laughing, immediately taking a step forward to wrap her arms around his middle.

"I'm kidding!" she squealed, giggling and struggling to hug him as he playfully pushed her away. "I'm just kidding, you're beautiful!"

Severus quieted and shook his head, clearing his throat as he pried her off of him. "Alright, alright!" he groaned with a roll of his eyes. "Rude."

Jasmine bounced slightly as she followed him to the door, only to smile up at the side of his face when he laughed again under his breath at her joke. A content sigh followed.

"Ah, I like you," he breathed as the door opened in front of him.

At first glance, all Jasmine could see was an ordinary room, not even a bedroom. Just an empty room containing a simple, clearly unused desk, which sat neatly in the corner. A tall lamp sat in there as well, but everything about it, even down to the carpet, was plain. She shrugged glancing up at him.

"So…" she began, but the corners of Severus' eyes had begun to wrinkle. He nodded his head once more at the inside of the room, from where he stood holding the door open.

"Look again."

She had only looked away from it for an instant, but as she turned her gaze once more, it seemed as though the plain room had been melted away entirely, absolutely no evidence of it whatsoever. What she found instead was a large stone entrance hallway of sorts, dark, lit only by a few guttering candles in brackets along the wall. She gasped, taking a step forward and jumping when her bare feet met a cold, very real, stone floor. After a quick glance down, she turned her head to look up at him, eyes huge.

"But how?" she asked. "The building people don't know this is here?"

Smirking, Severus took a step forward into the cool, somehow breezy hallway beside her, once again loving how continuously impressed she was by his magic.

"It is known as an Undetectable Extension Charm," he explained. "Wizards can't open it and Muggles can't see it. It doesn't exist on any blueprint or diagram of the building."

Jasmine shook her head, reaching out a finger to trace the natural divots in the stone wall as they passed along the short hallway. "So, how was I able to see it?" she asked, voice echoing vaguely. They came to a stop at the end of the hall, where she paused long enough for her jaw to fall open.

"Because I made it so."

The room was massive, bigger by far than two of the existing bedrooms put together. The ceiling rose high above their heads by at least ten or more feet, solid, heavy-looking beams of dark wood meeting at strategic angles to form rafters. What they were meant to support, she could not exactly wrap her mind around, but she skipped past this detail without much difficulty. She had experienced enough magic over the past several months to train and reprogram her mind to simply accept, not question; marvel at things instead of dissecting them.

More bracketed candles hung around the walls, flickering and adding their glow to the few magically lit lamps standing on work surfaces and desks, bookshelves and the mantlepiece of one ancient-looking fireplace. It was already lit and crackling mildly in the grate, as though it had been lit earlier in the day and maintained, which of course, she knew it had not. Turning her head once again, she shook it back and forth slowly as she looked up at him. He merely blinked down at her in response to meeting her eyes, having been watching her take in the sight of his inner sanctum.

"This is incredible," she said quietly before inhaling a breath through her nose. The familiar scent of Severus filled her senses, despite him standing beside her, and at once, she realized that this was where he must spend the majority of his time alone. The smoky, deep scent of something woodsy, a warm herb or spice like clove or anise, perhaps? Or maybe a magical herb or spice completely unknown to her. Without waiting for a response, she stepped forward into the immense room at last, her eyes trained on a long, illuminated table in the middle.

Severus followed, glancing around with a touch of a prideful smirk on his features. "Thank you," he replied. "I'm rather impressed with it myself. It is an extraordinary bit of magic, if I do say so."

While listening, Jasmine had been distracted in full by the sight of six perfectly spherical, shiny, black stones floating in midair above the wooden surface. Approaching them, she came to a halt at the edge of the desk, forcing herself to keep her hands at her sides and not touch anything…despite how badly she might want to…

Severus seemed to understand her desire as he chuckled from somewhere behind her, one large hand coming to rest on the curve of her waist. "That," he began, applying gentle pressure and leading her away at the hip. "-is a bit of a work in progress. A dangerous one, I might add."

Jasmine's eyebrows contracted as she looked up at him in both confusion and interest and Severus could not help but let out another short laugh at her expression. Who could have predicted she would want to touch and know the purpose to everything in there?

"It will eventually be a centrifuge of sorts," he explained, his smirk expanding as they meandered toward his main, tall workbench. "Currently, it is a homemade slingshot."

He picked up a metal watering can and turned it to show her the large, bent divot in the side and the perfect, circular indent a previous stone had left. She snorted a quiet giggle but seemed to be noticing that mingled among the apparently ordinary desk detritus was scattered an assortment of magical items. There were bent, broken and crushed bits of herbs, silver instruments like knives and tweezers, even a pair of hemostats. But he also had a jar of beetle eyes out, which he grinned at fondly, wondering if she would be squeamish toward some of his nastier potion ingredients. However, Jasmine seemed most intrigued by the bowl of what appeared to be swirling, silvery smoke and nothing more. No embers, nothing smoldering, just a steady, coiling stream of lightly scented smoke. He watched her stare at it, her gaze faraway and wistful, a soft smile playing with her lips. It was only ever-burning incense, but Severus did not want to spoil it for her, if she was imagining some ingenious, magical instrument with which he could see into another world or something. It was just too…cute.

He remained silent as he followed her throughout the room, keeping a subtle distance between them, not wanting to distract, every now and again stepping in to explain something when she gave him an inquisitive look or asked a question. Her bubbly, giggly mood from earlier seemed to have calmed a bit after she had eaten and especially once he had brought her here, allowed her the space and time in which to be fully and deeply curious, see and experience his most personal space. He wondered if it had perhaps registered with her his reason in doing so, allowing her to delve more deeply than anyone else in his life.

Jasmine continued, following the rows of bookshelves along the far wall, squealing every now and again when she encountered his jars of preserved dead things, cockroaches and particularly disgusting substances. He shrugged, laughing as she folded her arms across her middle with a shudder and continued moving toward the massive, inset fireplace, large enough that she could have easily walked inside it.

"I told you I'm a Potions Master," he reminded her, once more shadowing her footsteps.

Jasmine shook her head somewhat distractedly, eyes huge as she approached his most trusted, oldest and perfect cauldron, large enough, again, that she could have easily climbed into it. For a moment, Severus wondered with a chuckle if perhaps she was thinking of doing that exact thing, as she reached out and placed both of her hands on either edge of it to peer down inside. Against himself, he quickly reached out and rapped once, hard on the empty metal with his knuckles. Jasmine sprang back with a squeak as it rang loudly like a gong, echoing against the stone floor beneath it as it hung suspended on the air without tangible support.

"Sorry," he said with a grin, shrugging his shoulders as Jasmine glared playfully at him and massaged her ears. "Couldn't resist. Although-" He paused to frown and point a finger at the cauldron beside him. "-you really shouldn't go sticking your head inside cauldrons. I'm not brewing anything now, but I will be at some point in the future."

At some point…in the future.

Severus blinked as that thought reached him, the words having left his mouth before he could hesitate to consider what it meant; this was not the last time Jasmine would be with him in his lab. Obviously, he hoped that this was something she had already considered, the fact that she would be spending more time at his place, with him, on a more private level but…he did not have to come right out and bring attention to it.

However, if Jasmine found anything odd with what he had said, or had any issue with it, she did not act like it, as she merely smiled up at him, rubbing her arms despite the fire behind them.

"Noted," she finally replied, her nose wrinkling a bit as she rose quickly onto her tiptoes to peck a light kiss on his neck. Severus withheld a shiver at the gentle affection, instead draping his arm about her shoulders to lead her from his lab, extinguishing the lights behind them with a wave of his hand.

As they stepped out into the hallway, both blinked furiously as their eyes adjusted to the sunlight in sharp contrast to the dark, lamp-lit room they had just been in. The time must have been approaching late afternoon as the sun had begun taking on a golden tone, shimmering through the patio doors into the living room, tiny particles of dust floating lazily through the beams. Jasmine turned to face him, her arms still folded across the discarded shirt of his she had put on earlier.

"Do you mind if I shower?" she asked suddenly, catching Severus slightly off-guard as he had honestly not even considered the fact that she might like to wash up. Especially since he was sort of holding her captive at his apartment…not that she seemed to have any inclination whatsoever to leave.

With a gentle smirk, he nodded his head toward the end of the hall, where his bathroom door stood open just inside the bedroom. "Not at all," he replied. "It's through here."

Jasmine waited just outside the door while Severus waved a hand to start the warm water running, watching him with a peaceful expression as he conjured three fluffy, white towels from thin air with a twitch of his wand. With a quick kiss on her temple, he left the bedroom entirely, shutting the door behind him to grant her as much privacy as she liked, for as long as she liked.

When she emerged from the shower nearly a half hour later, steam rose up from her skin in little coils and spirals, rising from her scalp, through her curls to escape, keeping her warm, though she hardly needed it. Unsurprisingly, everything about Severus' bathroom was magical or enchanted, even down to the warmed tiles beneath her feet. The towels he had magicked into existence before his departure might have only just been pulled from a dryer, despite how long ago they had appeared. She wrapped one of them about her chest, another across her shoulders and rolled her hair up into the third, sighing comfortably as she looked up into the mirror over the counter and sink.

It was impossible not to smile at herself.

Minutes ago, in the shower, she had run her hands over her naked body to wash it, taking great lungfuls of the scent of his soap and shampoo. It was completely natural, and he made it himself, Jasmine had come to find out. She positively adored the smell of it and wondered if she dare ask whether he could make some for her as well next time. With an excited giggle, she turned from the mirror once more to finish drying and hurry through getting dressed so she could go find him. Perhaps a nap would be in order.

When she emerged from the bathroom wearing a pair of her shorts he had brought her the previous night and a black t-shirt she had found in his bathroom closet, she half expected to find him already asleep on the couch. Instead, her insides gave a pleasant little squirm when he appeared at the end of the hall, stepping out of the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand. He had just brought it to his lips to take a sip when he noticed her. His eyebrows relaxed in playful exasperation as he swallowed and motioned his glass toward the shirt she was wearing.

"So, this is how it works, then?" he asked, dark eyes twinkling as he teased her. "You come over, demand a bed, food, a hot shower and then wear my clothes-" He paused to scoff indignantly when she pulled the glass of water from his fingers to take a sip. "- drink my water…"

Jasmine giggled through her nose as she struggled to swallow the water in her mouth without spitting it all over him. Severus grinned at this, accepting the glass back as she nodded.

"Yep," she answered simply, closing the space between them to slide her arms once more around his middle, resting her chin on his chest to gaze up at him. "Better get used to it, Prince."

It was Severus' turn to shower and not a moment too soon, as he felt quite dirty and unbathed. Especially after Jasmine had appeared after hers, looking so refreshed and comfortable, smelling like his own personal soap and glowing beautifully. He could have stood in the hallway for another hour simply inhaling her but felt it would probably be a better use of his time to go take his own shower.

Despite the icky feeling of not bathing for such a long time after a shift, everything else about Severus' body felt fantastic that day. He had slept so well, for obvious reasons, felt much less tense, for obvious reasons, and happier, much happier, again for what he felt were very obvious reasons. The conversation about their feelings must still happen, he knew that, but somehow, he felt it would be much easier now versus before, when he could barely touch her hair without second-guessing himself. Now, he could hold her soft hands in his, actually look at her while he confessed how long it had been that he had fostered feelings for her. And yet-

"Better get used to it, Prince."

As Severus stood naked beneath the streams of water, thoughts of what Jasmine had just said to him echoed in his recent memories, his heart rate quickening. Would she be expecting him to make something concrete of their relationship? Certainly, she would, seeing how they had been such close friends for so long, now were finally intimate and clearly a bit mad for each other. Didn't it make sense that they should be…what was it called…dating?

As this word fluttered through his spinning thoughts, he felt a twist of discomfort. If he was being honest with himself, and Jasmine, he had never had what he would consider a 'girlfriend' before. Even the word itself made him feel…weird, or something. He briefly imagined a scenario in which he would have to introduce Jasmine as such, and even in his mind, it sounded wrong, felt wrong, to call her his- 'that' word. He had referred to her as his best friend privately for so long that anything else just did not seem to fit her.

Either way, regardless of what he ended up calling her, he felt he would have to bring it up some way or another, ask her what it was she wanted, discuss what their next steps should be. He wanted to do this in whatever fashion she desired, as long as it made her- both of them- happy and at ease.

However…

None of this meant he was not going to be nervous and probably awkward about it.

After washing his hair and body and rinsing completely, Severus stepped out of the shower, smirking to himself as he imagined what he would find Jasmine doing when he walked out to the living room. He knew she would have found something to occupy herself, as his bookshelves were loaded with interesting books, both Muggle and Magical, and she had not yet been given free time alone in his apartment to peruse his collection.

Therefore, it came as a surprise when he entered the living room ten minutes later to find that Jasmine had not been snooping his books at all, but rather, had curled up on his couch on her side, hands tucked beneath her chin and was deeply asleep. The one sip of water from his glass had apparently been insufficient, forcing to retrieve her own, as he noticed a half-drunk glass sitting on a coaster atop the wooden coffee table. His smirk expanded as he moved further into the room quietly, glancing up at the glass doors to the patio and darkening sky beyond as a low rumble of thunder rolled along in the distance. The wand in his hand gave a flick and a deep, hunter green thermal blanket popped into existence, floating above Jasmine's sleeping figure.

Perhaps they could have that conversation later, Severus thought, draping the blanket over her. Perhaps they could take as long as they wanted, figure things out gradually. All Severus knew was that his instincts were once again telling him not to worry, not to stress, to trust that things would work perfectly. So, he listened; something at which he had been getting very good over the past year, if he did say so himself. Look at what it had brought him, he reflected, gazing affectionately at her peaceful form, asleep on his couch. Following his instincts had yet to steer him wrong.

…..

When Jasmine woke a pair of hours later, it was not the warmth of the blanket atop her, nor the pounding of heavy rain just outside the windows that her brain registered first. It was the mouth-watering, stomach-awakening scent of cooking food that reached her before anything else. She hummed in utmost content as she rolled onto her stomach from her side, stretching her legs out as far as they could along Severus' long couch. After a heavy breath to fill and empty her sleepy lungs and pump oxygen to her brain, she finally turned her head and opened her eyes. Her expression relaxed as her vision focused.

A beautiful but magically cooled fire crackled in the grate across the living room from her while rain poured steadily away beyond the patio. And toward the head of the couch sat Severus in a matching armchair, looking supremely handsome, sitting there in the glow of the fireplace and a few dim electric overhead track lights. He was reading something so intently, it did not seem as though it had registered with him that she was awake yet, so she took that moment to study him.

As usual, his brow was furrowed as he read, the shadows from his reading glasses deepening the lines between his eyebrows. His hair had been left loose to air dry after his shower and lay over his shoulders, shorter pieces falling into his face or otherwise pushed behind his ears. Black eyes scanned the pages of the book in his hands with dizzying rapidity, gliding back and forth with what seemed like very little effort. His posture was comfortable and slightly slouched, one ankle propped atop his opposite knee, elbows rested on either armrest.

Though she had made no noise while observing him, Severus looked up from reading after another few moments, his pensive scowl relaxing once he noticed that she had woken and was watching silently from the couch. Most of the lower half of her face was obscured by blanket, but as he smiled, she returned it in earnest, sure he could tell by the little creases next to her eyes.

"Hello," he greeted her simply, closing his book after dog-earring the top corner of his page. "Nice nap?"

Jasmine nodded, stifling a yawn behind her blanketed hands.

"What smells good?" she asked abruptly, her voice somewhat coarse and raspy with residual sleepiness, her stomach prickling with the beginning stages of hunger.

Severus inhaled a deep breath, looking a bit sheepish as he leaned forward to place his abandoned book on the coffee table, next to a previously unnoticed, half-drunk glass of whiskey. His reading glasses followed suit before he turned his head to look at her.

"Well, you fell asleep, so I figured I'd go to your place, get you a few things and…perhaps raid your freezer for dinner," he concluded, shrugging as innocently as he could manage while looking like a Disney villain.

Jasmine giggled, finally moving the blanket away from her face and shoulders. "Oh, did you?" she asked playfully, her eyebrows rising in mock surprise. "Get me a few things, huh? I guess I'm not going home anytime soon then."

Severus' thin but exquisitely drawn lips curved into a gentle smirk, eyes sparkling with a joy she had not seen there thus far, in all the time she had known him. He shook his head a moment later.

"Not if I've got anything to do with it."

…..

After a dinner of freezer pizza Severus had grabbed at random during his 'supermarket sweep' of her apartment, he found himself rested contentedly on the couch once again. Jasmine had settled to be lying with her head and upper body draped across his lap, eyes closed and basking in his touch as he stroked her hair away from her face, tracing the curls as they spilled over his legs and nearly to the floor. The ministrations stopped occasionally, but only for a few moments at a time, only long enough for him to reach over for his glass of whiskey and take a sip. His other hand, his left, lay rested across her middle, which she clutched gently in her smaller grasp, playing with his fingers.

After nearly twenty full minutes of perfect silence, with only the sound of the crackling fire and pouring, muffled rain outside, Jasmine spoke.

"I really like you, Sev," she commented, in what Severus hoped was a spectacular understatement.

He grunted a laugh, looking down at her as she opened her eyes. "Do you really?" he asked sarcastically, smirking when she frowned up at him.

"I'm serious!" she exclaimed in her soft voice. "I have for a long time, too…" Her voice trailed as though it was embarrassing her to admit such a thing to him, when he himself was guilty of exactly the same.

Brushing his thumb along her hairline gently, he waited for her to look up at him again before speaking. "What do you think I wanted to talk to you about after work last night?" he asked but did not give her time to answer. "I've felt strongly for you for…longer than I care to admit. I always wanted to tell you but couldn't bring myself to do it. I just assumed you-"

"-you'd never be into someone like me?" She completed his sentence in slightly different terms, but in essence, identically to what he had intended to say. When he nodded slowly, her eyes dropped to fidget with her silver, pointer-finger ring. "Yeah, I thought the same thing. But, when you kissed me-"

She closed her eyes momentarily to clasp his hand with both of hers and bring it to her mouth, kissing his fingers a few times. Finishing her sentence was unnecessary; Severus had also experienced the emotional, mind-blowing kiss they had shared in the back hallway, their back hallway, at the hospital the previous night.

After another few moments of watching Jasmine plant playful, soft kisses all over his knuckles, fingers and palm, she pulled his hand away and looked up at him once more.

"So…does this mean we can be together now?" she asked simply.

Severus felt his insides jerk, his heart leaping at the inside of his chest. There it was, the thing his instincts had told him to wait out. He lowered his fingers from her hair to her jawline, tracing it, hesitating. What could he say? The only answer was yes, but-

"Would that make you happy?" he asked, just as simply as she had done before him.

Jasmine sat up, shifting from her back to her knees, before she swung one of them over his legs and settled onto his lap, facing him. Her smile was nearly too immense for her face, her eyes lit up as though fireworks had been set off behind them. She gave a small bounce, her hands resting on his shoulders. She nodded heartily in response to his question.

He arched an eyebrow, attempting one last stern look. "I might be really bad at it," he warned, his look breaking into a grin when Jasmine shook her head.

"Just be nice to me," she replied, leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the cheek, her lips soft and plush against his skin. "That's all there is to it," she then added, in yet another wildly understated claim. Severus may have been new to the whole relationship thing, but he was certain there was much more to it than that.

At this, however, he groaned loudly in false annoyance, dropping his head back to roll his eyes generously.

"Ugh, forget it," he grunted, smirking when Jasmine laughed and leaned forward again, pressing her lips to his.

What began as a gentle kiss evolved rapidly into a tangle of tongues and lips, both growing more breathless with every moment that passed without proper oxygen supply. Severus' greedy hands had found her waist again, long fingers spanning her curves, thoroughly enjoying the way she moved and responded to his touch. She pulled away from his mouth after a few long seconds, opening her eyes briefly to lock gazes with him. Without a word, without having to search her mind for it, Severus could feel what she was attempting to share with him; she was now his and he was now hers.

She leaned toward him once more, pressing her lips against the curve of his neck beneath his jaw, hands trailing along his chest and stomach, his hips bucking slightly in response.

"I think we're gonna like this…"she giggled against his skin.

Now, that was the understatement of the century.

…

A/N: I'm back! I got extremely busy through the latter part of 2019 and obviously through the holidays, so I had ZERO time to write! But I wanted to get this chapter out to you all as things have started leveling out over here for me hehe Thanks so much for reading! I understand this chapter was all very fluffy and cute, but I felt we were long overdue a little true romance between these two. Some very exciting stuff coming up soon, I'm SOOOO excited to bring it to you once it's written! This story just keeps growing with ideas, gotta love it. Hope everyone's 2020 is off to an excellent start!

Of course, reviews are always appreciated but never expected. Private messages are also welcome if you're shy.

"To Heal Himself" IG: qom389