Disclaimer: I own nothing and profit none.

A/N: At long, long last it's finally over. Now I just need to ice my head a little.

Much, much great love to you reviewers. Without you this story would have been dead in the water. It certainly would have been considerably shorter. Particularly without those of you who incited Will to rebel. You know who you are. :P

All of you are amazing!

"I didn't notice any problems yesterday with you walking on that ankle. Is there anything I should know about?" Magnus turned away from the lab monitor to shoot an inquiring look at him.

"It's fine," he said quickly. Wilting a bit under the stern look directed his way, he explained further, "Really. It, it doesn't feel quite as strong as the other, but there's no pain and it hasn't tried to give out or anything."

"Relax, Will," Magnus returned to his side where he was sitting on an infirmary table, "It will take some time to rebuild it up to strength, but I'm not going to insist on returning to crutches." She paused, before continuing with a smile in her tone, "Although I think I should feel hurt that you're that eager to stay out of my office."

"It's just that mine missed me so much," he said in faux-earnestness. "And the files! You would never approve of the lack of filing that's been going on. I'm doing it for you, really."

"Mmhm," she hummed in complete disbelief, "Just remember that my office is where the staff meeting is held, so you can't avoid it forever."

"Of course," he said a little too easily, just to earn the suspicious look she shot his way. Truthfully, after practically living in her office for the past several weeks, he was surprised at how strange it was to settle down in his own. Although he had been seeing patients there once the dreadful bug had died a lingering death, it had been little more than a stopover point before heading back to tbe sofa. Also, his bed was nice and all, but he wanted to know where in the world that one in the off-bedroom had come from. It was like sleeping on fluffy sheep. Only less noisy.

In any case, he had no serious objections to going back to visit what he now thought of as his sofa. Especially if the woman who ostensibly owned it was in residence; perhaps the hardest change was getting used to not having her within arm's reach at all times. He would never have expected to become used to their cohabitation, but just that morning he'd been reading a file and found himself speaking aloud to an empty room.

Magnus, of course, he considered, was probably basking in the silence. He had tried to be as quiet an intruder as possible, but surely she must be grateful to have her own space back. As he thought about her office without him cluttering it up, the woman in question rummaged through her lab coat and emerged with a pen that she waved under his nose.

"Ah, but if you don't come back, I'm beginning to fear you will never write again. I found this one behind a vase on the mantle. Exactly how many pens did you lose in my office?"

He blushed and ran a hand over his hair to give him an excuse to duck his head. "I don't even count anymore, Magnus. I just buy a couple boxes at a time and resign myself to the loss."

"Not much of one," she scoffed, reading the logo on the flimsy barrel. "Is that why you never have a decent writing utensil?"

He nodded, shamefacedly, "Yeah. I'd just lose it, so it doesn't seem worth the cost."

"This makes eight," she said, handing it over and watching as he stuffed it in a shirt pocket. "That's simply ridiculous, Will." Watching as he carefully avoided her eyes, she plucked the pen back out of his pocket and held it out of reach when he tried to grab for it. "I'm thinking of keeping it as a souvenir. If I did, how many pens would your office have right now?"

"Uh," he stalled, trying to figure a way out of the question.

"I thought so," Magnus muttered triumphantly, "What happened to the seven I already retrieved?"

He gave a small sideways shrug, "They're in my office. Um, somewhere. I'm pretty sure."

She handed the pen over once more, smirking as he buttoned the pocket over it this time. "What am I going to do with you?" she questioned offhandedly.

He froze for a moment, looking up at her through his lashes and registering that she looked to be regretting the phrase at his silence. Before she could smooth it over, he plunged in, "Well, I guess not let me near your pens," he smiled shyly, "since I heard somewhere that you might be, um, might be stuck with me." He swallowed a bit nervously and looked down at her ridiculously high heels.

A soft laugh teased a smile onto his lips. Magnus stepped over and tugged him close in a hug that he relaxed into, for once, to wrap his arms around her waist. Pulling back to smooth his wild hair away from his forehead, she pressed a kiss to it, "Very good advice, m'lad." She paused before finishing mock-sternly, "Particularly the bit about the pens."

A/N #2: I know, I know, another one? I can't seem to shut up today. However, this is just a general sort of announcement that, once I finish that whole icing-my-head thing and write anything else just for variety, there will be a sequel. The title is Aftermath and the first section is already blocked out, so I almost actually have a idea where that one is heading! Also, it was the only way to convince Will to let this story end - although I suspect Magnus is hatching plans to hijack the endeavor this time around...