And a new one! This is a bit later, yeah I know. It's sad, but I actually have had things to do lately rather than dive into this story. I want to dive in, buuut life happens. Anyways, this one is a funny one. I was laughing writing the whole thing, and I really hope that you all laugh as much as I did!

As always, I don't own annnything except Evelyn.

When Evelyn woke up, she froze. There was a man in her bed. There was a man in her bed. Oh Lord there was a man in her bed! And then everything came rushing back to her, and she realized that this was a man that she actually knew. The breath in her lungs blew out quickly, and she relaxed. A bit. She didn't really understand how they had ended up tangled with each other as they were right now.

Currently, his arms were wrapped around her possessively. She could feel the callouses on his palms where they were pressed against her stomach and supporting her neck. She smiled, her hand gently tracing his. Who knew that a man who was so virile and cold in life, could be so kind in his sleep? He was holding her as though she was made of glass. Her back was pressed against his chest, and she could feel the strength in him with every breath that he took. She didn't want to move for fear that she would ruin the moment.

But nature called, and Evelyn knew that at some point she was going to have to wake up. She managed to get out of the bed without waking him up, though she had to twist into some positions that made her glad no one was around to see her. Thank goodness she practiced yoga. Even in sleep the man didn't want to let go of her at all. His hands had clutched first at her waist and then at her dress. If she didn't know better, Evelyn would have swore that he was actually awake.

Once she was awake and dressed in one of the terry cloth robes in the bathroom, she walked out into the kitchen to get a pot of coffee going. Arthur had certainly seen to it that everything was perfect. He hadn't gotten any clothing, but there was a list of numbers that she could call to get them delivered. Evelyn had not grown up in a world where one could call someone and have them bring clothing. She wasn't so sure what the sizes were here in England, but she would figure it out when she could.

Coffee. That was a luxury that she hadn't realized she missed so much. Just the smell of it as it started to boil was enough to make her want to dance. The apartment was stocked with just enough food to get them through today, but then she would have to go shopping. Arthur really was a godsend. Sighing, she took out a mug so that she could pour the coffee into it and get back to the life that she had missed so much. Evelyn hadn't realized how much she had missed her old life.

Back in the day, it was horrible that she was thinking of it as "back in the day", she would wander around looking for artistic inspiration. Her job started at eight o'clock, and she would always get up at six. Evelyn was the kind of person that needed to have a schedule, and when that was messed up she was messed up. It would be good to be back into a schedule, even if she was missing that massive part of a job. She could figure out something to fit into that.

She flexed her hand, smiling down at the appendage. Her hand was barely hurting anymore. It was still extremely stiff, but that wasn't anything that couldn't be worked out. Exercises would make that ease, and then perhaps she could get back into her art. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Looking out of the window in front of her, she smiled into the cup of coffee. She could get back to the old life that she had missed so much.

"Mm, good morning." Hands slid around her waist, and she stiffened for a moment.

It appeared that Scabior was up. And he hadn't gotten rid of that horrible habit of his that was walking extremely quietly. He had snuck up on her, and Evelyn had a quick flash of disappointment. She didn't really want him in this world of hers. If only she could go back to the life that she had missed so desperately, one without him and magic and everything else that had ruined her life so well.

He nuzzled her neck, his nose cold against her jugular. He would have gone for the throat. That was the kind of man that he was. But this morning he wasn't hurting her, he didn't even seem to have that in mind. Instead his hands spread wide against her waist, the tanned skin a massive contrast against the white cloth. His nose tucked into her neck, and he breathed in. It was as though he was attempting to drink her in.

It made her feel fragile.

For a moment, Evelyn let herself sink into him. He supported her weight so easily, so much that she could have not been standing at all and she wouldn't have noticed. He took her weight and everything else that she would give him. Her neck bent back slightly, giving him more access to the skin there. When he pressed his lips against her neck however, she came to with a start.

She pushed away from him, managing to slid out from between his arms and the counter. Brushing her hair away from her face, she smiled at him tentatively. "Morning! How are you feeling?"
He looked at her oddly. There was a question in his eyes that she wasn't feeling up to answering. "Fine. 'Ow are you feelin'?"

"Fine!" Her voice was too high. Why was her voice so high?

Evelyn hadn't felt so nervous since she was a little kid and her then "boyfriend" had asked her to the prom. It was the kind of awkward that children had, not adults. And besides, hadn't Evelyn promised herself that she would be the strong independent woman that she used to be? She would have to push herself around him however. He made her uncomfortable in a way that no one had before.

"I've decided what our next step is!"
"Really?" It was at that moment that she noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. Her face warmed, a blush blooming against her skin. He was so wonderfully muscular. "And what would that step be, Angel?"

And there it was. The nickname that she would never be able to forget. That nickname that she heard in her dreams, but in a different voice. Oh it was still Scabior's voice that was saying it to her, but it was in a different tone she supposed. A tone that said, I adore you and I want you to stay with me for the rest of our lives. As if that would ever happen. She needed to get a hold of herself. She wasn't that kind of fawning princess type. For one thing, she wasn't a princess. She had never been, and could never be. She had to work for everything that she wanted.

"Yes." She cleared her throat. "I think that we should completely redo your looks. Right now you're pretty recognizable. If the Order came looking for us you could be picked out of a thousand person crowd. So we're going to cut your hair, get new clothing for you, and see what else we can do to make you blend in a bit."

"Really." He leaned his hip against the counter. "And why would I let you do that?"

Evelyn blinked. "Well it seems the only logical thing that we could do at this point. We aren't exactly flaunting ourselves around in public! The last thing that we need is the Order to come crashing down around our ears. They certainly don't like us anymore."

Now his arms were crossed across his chest. That was the usual posture of someone that didn't like this idea. "Are you cuttin' yer hair?"

She hadn't expected that. "Well, I suppose that it would be a good idea, wouldn't it." She ran her fingers through her hair, she loved her red hair. "I've been dying my hair this color since I was eighteen, but it would probably be a good idea for me to take the dye out."

"Dyed?"

"Yeah, don't they do that in the wizarding world?" She would have been shocked if witches hadn't discovered a way to change their hair color.

"O' course they do." He looked offended. "You just don't look like ya dye yer hair is all."

She smiled at him. What a sweetheart. "Well, I do. But it shouldn't take too much to get the dye out."

Well, now was as good a time as any. "Come on Scabior, we're going to have to get dressed and then go and find ourselves a hairdresser."

"'Airdresser?"

"Mhmm. We don't have magic around here boy, we need to have actual people cut our hair." She walked up to him and flipped the end of the red streak in his hair. "It's time to let go of the streak."

He scowled down at her. "I happen to like the streak."

"Well, it's coming off. Now get dressed." She realized that she had placed her hand on his chest. The fingers on her hand flexed for a moment, and her palm soaked up the heat that was radiating off of his skin. Lordy he was warm. Then she snatched her hand back as though he was on fire. "Get fully dressed."

The arched eyebrow on his face suggested that he knew what was her problem. Well she wasn't going to let that get to her. First they would run into a store and get clothing without blood on them, and then she would find the best hairdresser around. Arthur had given them enough money to make sure that she could afford it. And she intended to spend the money that he had given them. If he hadn't given them so much, she wouldn't feel forced to.

Clean and happy, Evelyn gently pushed Scabior into the beauty parlor. She had had it with his attitude today. Everything that he didn't recognize he had to pick up and fiddle with. And that included inthings that weren't supposed to be picked up. She couldn't count the amount of times that she had dragged him into a bathroom so that he could wash his hands. He just didn't get that the germs in her world were so bad.

And now she was going to get him back. He didn't realize it, but she was going to get him back so good.

Walking up to the desk, she smiled at the receptionist. "Hello! I was wondering if there was any chance that we could get someone to do my friends hair here? Mine will take a bit longer unfortunately."

A voice shouted towards them, "Oh my lord! Let me at that man!"
Ah, just what she had been waiting for. She turned slowly, a smile on her face as big as Texas. Just what Scabior needed, a flamboyantly gay man cutting his hair. Already the looked on Scabior's face was enough to make her want to start a scrapbook page.

"What did you do?" He hissed at her.

She just smiled and waved towards the hairdresser walking towards them. "You have a distinct American accent sir."

He nodded and placed a hand on his hip. "I am Jacques." And then he kissed her hand, what a sweetheart. "And you?"

"I'm Evelyn, and this is my friend… Samuel."

Again, the look on Scabior's face was priceless. She didn't have time to explain that they couldn't go around calling him Scabior. Normal people didn't have names that were based off of dried blood. Samuel would have to do. At least it started with the same letter.

"Would you be so kind as to fix this?"

Jacques took his job seriously obviously. Because suddenly he was staring at Scabior as though he was something that was going to be turned into a masterpiece. He raised a hand with a hairbrush and flicked at the red streak in Scabior's hair. "I do not know."

"Oh dear, I'm certain that you can! A talented man like you? You look like you could fix just about anything."

Stroking the ego always worked on men. Didn't matter if they were gay, straight, or like dogs. Men enjoyed having other people enjoy them. "Well I suppose…"

Suddenly Scabior was being shoved towards one of the chairs, and he looked as though he was about to kill someone. Giggling behind her hand, Evelyn walked over to where he was sitting. "Think of this as combat training. You just have to sit and look pretty! They'll do everything else."

"Indeed we will!" Jacques hip bumped Evelyn out of the way. "Get off of my chair darling, you're leaving smudge marks." He then brandished his scissors. "This is going to be my greatest masterpiece yet."

Evelyn was thoroughly enjoying herself. Scabior looked horribly constipated the entire time, and Jacques was a dear man that she couldn't help but fall in love with. He was the bitchy, classically gay man that was just the sweetest thing that she had ever seen. There was a part of her that wanted to ask for his number as soon as he was done just so she could speak with him when he wasn't working.

He had the most fascinating views on life. When she got him talking about Shakespeare and politics, hell Evelyn was ready to take out a book and start writing. She wanted him to write a book so she could read it. The man could have taken his show on the road! Everything he spewed out of his mouth seemed to be actual fact, and Evelyn knew that she wasn't going to dispute anything he said.

The man was even kind enough to get her to have the dye taken out of her hair. Or that was what she thought that they did, because once they were finished her hair was back to the color it had been when she had first dyed it. It was strange to run her fingers through dirty blonde hair. She'd been a vibrant red head for so long.

"Oh! My darling you look wonderful. I like blonde on you! You look like a wonderful ray of sunshine." He flicked at a strange of loose hair. "Perhaps less like sunshine but a sunflower at least."

She burst out laughing. How could anyone take that as an insult when the man was looking at her like that? He was contagious she swore!

"Now come with me, sunflower. You don't mind if I call you Sunflower from now on do you? Of course not. Come with me and see what I have done. It's a masterpiece, a gorgeous confection, a-a…" He thought for a moment. "A stupendous act of insanity!"

Evelyn was surprised to feel a flutter of anxiety in her belly. She so wanted Scabior to be alright with his new haircut. And surprisingly, she so wanted to be alright with the haircut herself! Evelyn didn't know how much she had grown used to the sight of his straggly hair and the wild look that he had perfected.

And then she turned the corner and was greeted by the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. Gone was the crazed look that had always set her on edge. Gone was the intimidating wild man that had haunted her dreams. In his place was a gorgeous specimen of the male species.

Without the hair to hide his face, Evelyn was confronted with the entire beauty of his face. His jaw was square, his lips full enough to make her want to kiss them. And his eyes, oh lordy his eyes sent a bolt of awareness straight to her stomach. The man need only to look at her and Evelyn swore that she would have burst into flame.

A hand on her jaw closed her mouth. "Voila, Sunflower. Your beast has been turned into a prince!" Another flourish punctuated the words.

"Sc-Scab…" She cleared her throat. "Samuel?"

He ran a hand across the back of his neck. "I don't like it."

"You what?" Goodness she could barely speak! The man had effectively tied her tongue just by getting a haircut. What had the word come to. "You look…"

He moved closer to her, close enough so that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. "I what Angel?"

"You just… You look… Good." She tried to smile but it ended up more of a shaky grin. "You look really good."

"Oh, young love."

Evelyn was snapped out of her shock by the sound of the voice right next to her. Looking to her left, she realized that almost everyone in the salon was staring at them. Oh goodness. Her face flushed bright red, and she backed away from Scabior as quickly as she could. "Where do I pay?"

The entire time she was at the desk, she could feel Scabior's eyes on her back. He was right behind her, and it made her nervous. Not the nervous that he usually made her, that uncomfortable unease that someone was going to stab her. No, this time it was the unease that one felt when an attractive person was standing behind you. She found herself playing with her hair, hoping that he would notice the new color. Her hip was cocked to the side, and she stood a bit on tiptoe so that her behind would look better.

What was the world coming to? Was she really attempting to seduce Scabior? The man who had kidnapped her? The man who had ruined her life?

The simple answer? Absolutely.

As they walked out of the salon, he leaned close to murmur in her ear, "You're actin' strange, Angel."

She nodded, again tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Mhmm."

When the strand of newly cut hair slipped forward again, he leaned forward to tuck it back behind her ear. She looked up at him in surprise, only to find that wicked glint in his eyes. "You want me."

Now that was something that she could not abide by. No one was going to be telling her how she felt, even if that was the correct way that she felt. "No I don't."

She stomped ahead of him, feeling every strike of her feet into the cement of the sidewalk. There was a bit of therapy in hitting them as hard as she could. Perhaps it was immature of her, but she wasn't going to let him rule her life like that. No one would do that. They were silent the entire walk back to the apartment that they were staying in.

When he shut the door behind her, he sighed theatrically. "What's the matter."

"Nothing." She tried to make her voice as flippant as possible.

"Something is the matter."

"Nothing is the matter, Scabior." There was a bit of an edge to her voice."

"I've been around you long enough to know when something is wrong, Angel."

She whirled on her heel, rage making her face bright red. "Do you want something to be the matter? Because there's nothing wrong! But every time you ask if there's something the matter, the more likely that something is the matter because you're making it so!" Her voice echoed in the hallway.

Well now she was just more embarrassed then anything else. Stomping to the bedroom, she slammed the door behind her. She could hear Scabior slowly walking behind her. His footsteps were quickly becoming a personal insult to her. The sound was making her grit her teeth, perhaps because she couldn't stand the fact that he was actually living at the moment.

Rummaging through the closet that Arthur had stocked for them, she pulled out silk pajamas and a large towel. A shower would certainly calm her down, and that would be enough for her to have some time to cool down. Maybe Scabior would get the hint and leave her alone for a while. What she needed was a couple hours to herself, so she could sit down, watch some television, and pretend that she was just a normal human.

As she opened the door and walked by Scabior where he was leaning against the wall, she started stomping again. There was something about the man that just made her want to scream at the moment. The bathroom door was then slammed in his face. "Angel, this is solving nothing." There was a sing song tone to his voice.

How dare he. "I'm not a child! I don't need you to treat me as if I am!"

He growled through the door, but didn't move to open it. Good, he could stay out there and rot. See if she cared. Angrily, she yanked off her shirt, glaring at the door as if she could send her hatred through her vision and through the wood of the door into his head. "There are more important things to be fighting about right now, Angel. I don't appreciate your acting as though you're a child."

Oh he was going to get it now. "A child? Excuse me?" She took off one of her shoes and threw it at the door. Now that was satisfying. The thump against the door made her feel mildly less angry. She'd do it again. The next thump made her feel even better. Too bad she didn't have anything else to throw. "You're the one that's ordering me around like I'm a possession of yours!"

As the door started to open, Evelyn threw herself against it and locked it. There, have him get through that. The door was solid, even his weight wouldn't be able to break it. "Evelyn, I don't have my wand, I can't break through that."

He didn't have his wand? Why hadn't she noticed that? "Why don't you have you're wand?" Whoops, she'd forgotten to make that sound angry. "You jerk!" There, that should do something.

He chuckled. "That was taken away when I was imprisoned by the order, and you haven't really given me any time to speak to you about it. What with last night and being accosted this morning."

This time it was Evelyn that growled. "We are not going to speak about this morning again."

"Oh we're going to speak about it." He sounded angry, and extremely frustrated that he couldn't get through that door. She could just guess that he wanted to wrap his gorgeous long fingers around her neck so that she… What in the world was she thinking? That wasn't normal! All it did was make her more angry.

"Go away!" She managed to strip the rest of the way, and turned on the shower. She could hear him yelling at her, but pretended that she couldn't hear him at all. The shower was really loud anyways. The pipes were old, and there was a clunking sound constantly as the hot water was pumped. She could pretend that.

But eventually, the water ran cold, and Evelyn realized that there was no way that she could wait it out any longer. She wasn't angry anymore, well, not as angry as she had been. She was just frustrated, and hurt, and embarrassed that she had turned this into something much worse then it needed to be. She didn't want to walk out of this room and into that moment when his judgemental eyes would be looking at her.

This was more awkward then when she had been given the "birds and the bees" talk. At least then it was her dad that had been talking to her, and he had felt just as awkward as she had felt. She could just imagine that Scabior was going to freak out on her. And she was going to cry, because she felt like she was right on the edge of crying as it was. She didn't need him to make this worse.

Angrily, she scrubbed a hand over her face before she finally opened the door. Steam from the bathroom billowed out behind her. And then she looked around and realized that Scabior wasn't there. Why wasn't he there? He was supposed to be standing there at the ready to make her feel horrible!

Now she felt a little bit lost. What in the world was he doing if he wasn't here? Tip toeing through the hallway, she tried to even make the water dripping off her hair silent. Maybe she would get lucky and he would have left. No that wasn't lucky! That meant that he was wandering around in the street by himself. Someone could take advantage of him!

And then her train of thought was broken when she saw him with his hands braced on the kitchen counter looking out the window. He made a fine figure. The man that had kidnapped her was gone, and he was purely gorgeous. He made her heart flutter. What in the world did that mean?

She was about to open her mouth with an apology at the ready, when someone knocked on the door. Scabior turned immediately, his eyes locking on hers with anger and rage. She couldn't deal with that right now. She just couldn't. So she did the thing that was the cowardly thing to do. She turned on her heel and opened the door.

"Arthur?"

Oh a cliffhanger! I'm so sorry to do that to you, but you will enjoy the next one just as much! And there probably won't be a cliffhanger on the next one. Thank you all so much for reading, and don't forget to review my lovelies!

Emmaline