Chapter Two

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

Okay, so that wasn't easy. Look, it's not every day the woman you asked to marry rises from the dead, knocks on your door, and wears the body of a seventeen-year-old cheerleader. It was going to take me a minute or ten-thousand to wrap my brain around it.

No, I shouldn't have sent her away. No, I shouldn't have allowed that to get to me, but after all the guilt, all the pain, all the suffering, Maggie being raised by the Carpenters, me being dead, my attempt at suicide…I wasn't in the best of shape for the night.

Sometime around midnight, I came up for air and found myself in our bed. With Murphy. Her arms were around me, and I'd been sleeping/weeping for awhile.

"Sorry," I said, pulling myself together and wiping my face.

"For?"

I cleared my throat. "I just had a few too many emotions to deal with."

She nodded and kissed my head.

"You know, your arms are perfectly configured for snuggling as well as TaiKwonDo, or krav maga, or whatever ancient martial art you practice."

She chuckled and scooted up. "Aikido and I'm starving."

"Me too!" I said. "Pizza?"

"Double Pepperoni from Nino's."

"On it," I said, hopping out of bed.

I padded into the kitchen and lifted the actual telephone. Cell phones don't work when I'm fully magical, so I didn't even want to try. It felt like I'd been magically offline for so long already it took a moment to remember not to pick up a mobile device.

After placing our order, I grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and walked back to the bedroom. I sat down in a comfortable leather chair and looked out the window.

The house wasn't Murphy's old house. We'd rented a small place in Lakeview, which had a nice view of Lake Michigan. It was expensive but quaint and had been recently renovated. After CPD settled with Murphy, and after several…well, investments from our last caper where we liberated some treasure from Hades in the underworld, we both were doing pretty well, financially speaking, and our life had been upgraded. Neither one of us wanted to go hog wild, but we could afford a beautiful place that fit with our peculiar lifestyles. Murphy continued her weapons and self-defense training and was offering classes at the Y to disadvantaged youth, and I played D&D with Butters and the Alphas…well, before Covid took over our lives.

The moon had risen, and the lake lay placid and beautiful. With COVID, Chicago had turned into an idealistic wonderland with clean air, zero traffic, and gorgeous vistas.

"So," Murphy said. "Susan."

"Yes." I took a sip of Coke, then set it down. "Susan."

"So, what are we going to do about her?" Murphy said.

I nodded. "Well, there are...considerations."

"Yes," Murphy said, putting her head on her fist. "Many considerations."

I nodded and put up a finger. "There's her age."

Murphy frowned. "Why is her age a consideration?"

"Well," I coughed. "I mean, she's in the body of a seventeen-year-old."

"Pfft, Dresden, you wizard types are always finding ways around that."

"Not for Anastasia Luccio, there isn't."

She nodded. "Good point. You guys haven't been able to figure that body swap out, have you?"

"Nope."

Luccio had been swapped into her current younger blonde body during the fight with a monster called The Cryptkeeper. She had taken Luccio's body, and Luccio had been stuck in the blonde's body. When the Cryptkeeper had been killed, Luccio had been stranded. We, the collective we of the white and grey councils, had yet to untangle the knot of spell threads, keeping her stuck.

"So, she too might be stuck."

"Yes, and if she's seventeen, and Maggie is five..."

"Lord, that is only a twelve-year difference."

"Number two," I said, not wanting to be deterrent. "There's you and me."

"That goes without saying, Dresden, unless you are thinking you two might—"

"Nope, that train has long since sailed."

"Cuz, you and me, are like this." She put her fingers together.

"And don't forget like this," I said, making finger puppets in the air of us getting busy, and then a circle and a hole—

"Dresden!" She squealed, putting her hands over mine.

I grinned.

"Number three," Murphy said. "What does that even mean, atone for your transgressions? How actionable is that?"

"Right?" I said. "It's like saying mend your fences."

"Develop your portfolio." She snapped her fingers.

"Seek, and ye shall find."

"Achieve your potential."

"Okay, enough," I said. "It's a platitude, but the way these things work is until she can meet what every requirement of whatever this is, she's stuck here without being able to move on or whatever."

The doorbell rang, and I went and took the pizza from the pizza man, giving him a healthy tip. I took the pizza back into the bedroom and set it on the bed. We sat and scarfed for a few minutes.

"Number four," I said, holding up four fingers. "COVID Virus, I mean hello!"

"Exactly," Murphy said. "COVID kills. Why endanger our lives chasing after some vague...something."

"Yes," I said.

"We could totally be arrested for being out and about chasing transgressions."

"Definitely."

"So..." Murphy said.

I sat and chewed. "She...deserves..." I stopped talking, swallowing the elephant in my throat.

"She deserves to see her daughter."

I nodded, unable to speak.

"And," Murphy took my hands in hers, looking at me in the eyes. "Maybe you are one of those transgressions she is trying to atone for?"

"Me?" I blinked. "I'm the one killed her if you remember."

"You had to kill her to prevent her from becoming a monster."

"Well, yes..."

"And who does that to the person they love most in the world?"

I thought about that. It was true; we had both been...used, I suppose, was the word for it, by the Fellowship of St. Giles and by Martin to set up the entire Red Court into being destroyed in one fell spell. With the death of Martin at Susan's hands...or...fangs, she became the youngest vampire of the Red Court. And with a swipe of the knife, I saved a child; I ended a war, blah blah blah.

I breathed for a few moments, feeling a bit dizzy with all the emotions and memories.

"So, I guess we give her the opportunity to atone with you," Murphy said in a clipped voice. "But, Dresden, let me make something perfectly clear — " She grabbed my hair, pulling my head up and looking into my eyes. "At no time are you to allow her to atone in any other way beside completely clothed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," I said.

"We are in a long term, committed relationship. You do not have permission to fraternize or engage in any sexually related acts outside of this specific partnership.

I grinned at that. "Yes, Captain."

"I want your word on that, Dresden."

A wizard's word was an important thing, indeed. Murphy knew exactly what she was doing here. I agreed to something that could have magical consequences if I broke this covenant in any way.

"I hereby agree."

"And thereby, we make it so."

I smiled, climbing back into the bed. "Want some of that lingus stuff right now?"

"Jesus, you're romantic, Harry."

"I know, right? I should be called Cyrano de BergerWizard."

She giggled. I liked making her giggle. I liked the way her eyes crinkled up, and the way her mouth opened when she was laughing. Making Murphy laugh was my new quest in life. I could spend my exceedingly long lifetime, finding inventive ways of making her laugh.

I tickled her lightly as we slunk under the covers, and she giggled a bit more. She stroked the hair out of my eyes. "Someone needs a haircut."

"I can wizard it short tomorrow."

"No, I like cutting your hair, Dresden."

I smiled, kissing her full on the mouth. Murphy was about the only person in the world I trusted to cut my hair. Hair could be used in various and nefarious ways, and we were always careful to burn it after any trim.

Murphy responded by arching her back up to me, her body pressing against mine in such a delightful way. I tasted her, grinding my hips, feeling her ardor. We moved so perfectly together, her body and mine, entwined, enmeshed, our souls melding, fusing—it was almost like magic, the way we moved together. I could feel tingles in my toes as my magic awoke giving a whole new meaning to our lovemaking. I truly gave into it, gave into us.

It was like with each breath I took; I breathed her in a little more, and as I exhaled a little of me mixed with more of her. We panted, moving, colliding together and then thrusting, the feeling of mixing and melding so great, so wonderful, so climatic…

We parted, her arms around me, kissing the top of my head, and I felt so warm, so secure in her arms, a glowing feeling coming from my center that felt so nice. I trembled, the orgasm still flowing through me, but realized something was different, it wasn't coming from just one area of my body, but from all over, almost like…

I blinked. Murphy leaned back, eyes closed, but it wasn't her own eyes closing, she closed my eyes.

"Uh…Murphy?" I said, and if I needed any more confirmation that something was wrong, this was it. I spoke in her voice.

"Mmmmm?" She…he said.

"Something has happened."

She opened my eyes. It was strange to see my face looking down on me, the brown in my eyes with little flecks of gold. Realization dawned on my face. "Ah, crap."

I sat up and could feel…stuff…leaking out of me.

"Ewww!" I said.

"How could this have happened?" He spoke in my voice but trying to use it in the higher registers, which made it squeak.

I sighed. "Just another magical day in the neighborhood."