The Dresden Files/Codex Alera is copyright Jim Butcher. This story is licensed under the Creative Commons as derivative, noncommercial fiction.

"So what the fuck happened?" Murphy said, looking down at our bodies.

I sighed and stood up. Damn, Murphy's body felt good. I was toned, flexible, and even with our…workout, I felt terrific. I needed something for the ick though, so I went into the restroom and cleaned Murphy's body up.

Now, I won't go into detail about Murphy's body, or how all her nice and jiggly parts felt, but I will say I enjoyed myself. I came back in to find Murphy standing in my sweats and t-shirt.

"How the hell do I go pee, Dresden."

"Um, point, shoot, and let nature take its course."

He shook his head, stomping into the bathroom. "I feel like I'm all knees and elbows. I hate this."

"We'll get it sorted as soon as you come out of there, I promise."

Soul transfers were not unknown in the wizarding world. And since I had the Winter Mantle, and been sans magical for the last few weeks, it wasn't too surprising I lost a bit of control there. The winter mantle causes me to be a bit Aggro, even in the best of times, and I forgot how powerful I was. We were lucky that this was the only thing that happened; it could have been much much worse.

He came back in, sitting down in my chair. "Okay, put me back in my body, Wizard."

I nodded. "We will, but we have to be careful with this. I could screw a lot of stuff up with it, so I don't want to make any mistakes."

"Why can't you just…I dunno, wiggle your nose, or blink your eyes and put us back?"

I glared at him. "Murph, you of all people should know magic doesn't work like that."

He chuckled softly. "Damn, now I get what people mean when I give them 'the look.' I'm a little frightening, aren't I?"

"Damn straight. And I'm not even holding a weapon."

He chuckled again. "Okay, so what do we need to do."

I sat and thought. "Well, I really would like to talk to Bob about it, but essentially what we experienced was a bit of Tantric Magic."

He nodded. "I figured as much; I read some about it."

This startled me. "Oh? Do tell."

He shook his head. "It was something from the past. Shut up and get to the part where I get my body back."

"Okay, so Tantric magic. It has, I dunno, eight, nine different steps we'd need to prepare. I think we crashed through them all while we were making love."

He nodded. "So, we make love again, and it reverses?"

"It's not that simple. We entered a very high state of consciousness, Murph, and getting back isn't going to be easy. But the quicker we do it, the easier it will become because right now, your soul wants to be back in this body, and my soul wants to be back in my body. The longer we take, the more our soul grows to enjoy the vessel it contains. Therefore the harder it becomes to reach that tantric state."

"Believe me; my soul does not want to be stuck in this body."

That hurt. A bit. I nodded.

He rolled his eyes. "Look, you big galoot, I love you. I love you more than anyone I've ever loved before, okay? But that doesn't mean, in any universe I want to be you, okay?"

"Okay." I couldn't help myself; my eyes watered a bit.

He got up and crossed over to me. "And now I've made you cry."

I shrugged my shoulders.

He rubbed my back.. "I'm sorry. That was kind of insensitive of me."

"It's okay, I do understand," I said it, but my…Murphy's voice cracked in the middle of it. Hells Bells, I'd cried more in the last 12 hours than I'd ever cried in my life.

"Fuck, Dresden. I'm really sorry."

I took a breath. "Okay, anyway. Where was I?"

"Tantric magic, and our souls."

"Right. So, in order to swap back, we need to soul gaze. I didn't realize we had been doing that, but we were both caught up in the moment and soul gaze, plus sex, plus both of us wanting to be part of the other, equals, I'm you and ipso facto."

"Okay."

"So, can you do it?" I said.

"What, soul gaze? Yes, we've done it before."

"Well, yes, that, but also…this isn't going to work if a part of you can't be inserted into a part of—"

"I get it, and yes. Well, at least I think so. It is kinda hot that we switched like this."

"Okay, then. Take off your clothes."

He complied. It was strange to look at my six-foot-nine self. I could see that I'd been working out, and it was looking pretty good if I must say. I had shoulders, and was that a six-pack?

"Mmm, okay. Wow, it's strange to look at myself like this," I said.

"Back atcha, Dresden. I didn't really know how svelte I was, and my ass rocks."

I giggled. I noticed when I did that parts of him awakened.

"Mmm good, so maybe this won't be as hard as we thought. We obviously are narcissistic enough to enjoy how our bodies appear."

"Okay, so what's next, Dresden."

"Let's kneel on the bed. We need to look into each other's eyes."

He complied.

I knelt to face him. I could feel parts of my body softening at his gaze, and other parts growing quite firm.

"Look into my eyes, and let your soul see mine."

He did. We did. The soul-gaze started.

It always takes a few moments for images to surface. Staring into another person's face, especially when that face is you own face is weird. I had scars, I never knew I even had, like when did I get the one to the left of my left eye? If it had only been a few millimeters to the right, I would be blind. And wow, my eyes really look different from here. I always thought they were dog-poop brown but there were little flecks of gold--

Vague faces pushed out from a gray background, resolving into the faces of people she knew, or loved, or had caused her pain. Her sister, her mother, Jack Murphy - her father. Some of the faces I recognized, some I didn't. My face.

Scenes followed next. I could see from little Karrin Murphy's point of view, dressed in a pretty dress, late for a birthday party. She carried a present, but when she got to the party, everyone teased and mocked her so much she threw the present in the face of the birthday girl and everyone laughed at her.

I saw her father, Jack Murphy, someone I'd met in the Between. I saw him drinking, his head bowed low. He saw emergency vehicles through little Karrin's eyes, the body in a body bag, the zipper not quite done up and Jack's hand slipping out, the ring on his pinky dropping to the ground. It was a black cat on the face, for special investigations, the unit Jack worked for.

He saw a young Karrin graduating the academy, all smiles as she walks across the stage to be met by Rich. They hug, and Karrin holds his hand as they walk off the stage. In another scene she opens her bedroom door to find Rich with her sister Lisa, a furious rage descending as she throws dishes and flatware and them both as they scurry out of the house.

I felt her pain, her anguish, from a life lived so fraught with strife. Turning to police work as the only outlet she had, becoming head of SI, like her father, and then meeting me and the deep love and devotion she truly felt for me.

I opened my palm, and he touched his to mine. Staring into each others eyes, each brimming with tears, I found his mouth, kissing deeply, breathing his breaths. We settled down onto the blanket, my legs twining with his and—

Silent thunder echoed around us. I could feel a presence in the room

"Well, isn't this a pretty picture." A feminine voice said from the foot of our bed.

Squealing, I leaped up, ready to fight and saw someone standing there, glowing a faint blue that highlighted her angular face and white hair bound up in a tight bun. A dark blue dress stretched behind her with a white shawl around her shoulders

Mab. The Queen of Air and Darkness, had arrived.