The First Time They Held Hands...

It hadn't been planned, rehearsed or anticipated in any way, shape or form.

(If it had been one of them would surely have chickened out at the last possible second)

It wasn't some huge climatic moment where he reached out and took her hand and she squeezed his fingers in a way that sent sparks of electricity racketing through his body.

The sensation of his fingers laced through hers didn't make her dizzy and lightheaded (frankly, she already was after coming so close to death)

And neither of them were twirling into some lovey-dovey oblivion by the pleasures of the simplest touch alone.

The earth didn't start spinning on a different axis and life beyond the cell they ran from went on just like it had before, with or without them holding hands.

Did she reach for him or did he for her?...did it even matter.

Newt felt her long elegant porcelain fingers grip tightly to him as they dashed through the door, her pulse thrumming like the wings of a hummingbird against the inside of his wrist.

She was alive, so alive... 'Thank Merlin'.

There was something about this auror, this woman, that got to him. For so long he hadn't wanted to let anyone in, but it seemed Tina had already begun making her way inside his soul, like an occamy into it's nest.

She could belong there...if she wanted to.

Their feet pounded on the concrete as they struggled on, jinking or hexing anyone who came in their path. Flashes of blue light surrounded them, keeping almost every thought that didn't revolve around escaping their current predicament at bay.

For now.

The gentle pressure of his larger calloused hand in hers felt right and natural, almost as though it were instinctive for them to be clutching tightly to one another as they ran for their lives.

In their own unspoken way; running hand in hand and clutching tightly to a man she had only met a day ago, Tina surprisingly felt at home, ready for whatever would face them.

Together.

A relieved laughed bubbled up inside her.

Running hand in hand with the man she would spend her forever running beside.