Who: James & Lily6-PARTY What: Welcome Back from Prison? When: At the flip. Where: Lily's unit in Psi Warnings: TBD. Status: Logged, Complete
It was a testament to Lily’s mental fortitude that she was still sane. No communication, no certainty that she would ever get out of her cell, she had somehow managed to keep her head up in this strange, foreign situation. How did it usually work when someone was imprisoned in a world? Would she stay here? Would she die here? At least she’d had company in the form of Peter Pettigrew—she was still uncertain as to how she ought to feel about the Peter from her world, but this one had been kind enough to make sure she wasn’t alone. And the multitude of attempts to break her out had been appreciated, too. It was nice seeing how much people cared about her in action.
For many a reason, it came as an overwhelming relief when one minute she was trying to muster sleep in the prison cell and the next minute she was definitely back in the Compound. She didn’t know how that worked, nor did she care—what was important was that she was back and, whatever the fate of Clare Leeth, Lily was relatively safe.
There were many things she wanted to do like making sure Harry was alright or checking to make sure Peter made it back to the compound but she was soon mollified when everything she’d been missing for two days appeared in her journal as though suddenly reconnected to the rest of the journals. Harry had been arrested but was back in the Compound, as were all of the others who’d come to her aide.
Satisfied for the moment—or at least long enough to grab a shower and change of clothes before she set off to find Harry or James—Lily made a beeline for her room. As it were, she didn’t have to wait to find James because, lo and behold, there he was, lying on her bed, curled up with Potter Cat. Her heart swelled and she felt a warmth inside of her at the sight of him there, waiting for her. Biting back a smile and shower momentarily forgotten, she moved toward the bed and crawled into it with him. “I will deny saying this, but you are the best thing I’ve seen in days.” She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his neck. “Next time I do hard time, I’ll make sure they can’t separate us, deal?”
James had been stuck on compound since getting arrested, which was far worse than being stuck in jail. Here, it was just him and the scientists, at least until other people started getting arrested and sent back too, but it was still missing something very important.
Lily. He was supposed to be with Lily, even if that meant being in jail. He didn't care about jail, at all. He wasn't especially worried about her safety -- or more accurately, he was forcing himself not to worry about that, and he'd had eight years of practice in convincing himself that she wasn't dead and wasn't going to die, so it was fairly successful -- but no matter how many jokes he made about it, the separation bothered him.
He was supposed to be the one who was in trouble with her, if there was ever trouble. There had been plenty of trouble, but circumstances kept preventing James from being there when it happened; he couldn't be there for her when she'd been kidnapped because he couldn't find her, and now he couldn't be in jail with her because they'd sent him back to compound and left her there.
So he'd been in her room, keeping Potter Cat company, waiting for her to get back and refusing to think about the possibility that she might not. He tried not to look at the countdown, because that only made the wait seem longer, especially because if she didn't show up by the end of it, then it meant… he didn't know exactly what that would mean, but it wasn't good.
Thankfully, because he was purposefully not checking the clock -- Potter Cat was helping by laying on his chest and making it hard to reach his journal -- and because he wasn't looking outside the window, either, he didn't notice that it had ended. His eyes were partially closed, one hand absentmindedly scratching the cat's ears, when he heard footsteps; when he opened his eyes to see Lily approaching, he wondered vaguely if he'd fallen asleep. But then she was in bed beside him, warm and solid.
All of his emotions that he'd been trying to hold at bay flooded away, leaving him utterly and unspeakably relieved in their wake. He wrapped his arms around her in return and kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes in relief. "Lily," he greeted her, and found himself smiling at her words. "Maybe we should've requested they cuff us together?"
Biting her lip, Lily smiled and let the warmth continue to spread through her as James' arms went around her. Between him, the kiss atop her head and Potter Cat's vehement purrs, Lily couldn't think of another place she'd rather be right now. Except maybe getting a shower and clean clothes, but she'd have time for that later.
Nodding, she laughed lightly. "Yes, that. Next time, let's remember the handcuffs." It was strange, really, to have been anxious in the prison cell and uncertain but to feel like all of those feelings had vanished the moment she'd found herself here.
"Peter Pettigrew from the Baby world, he made it into the cell and kept me company. I should thank him later. Don't want to move right now, though." She tilted her chin up and pressed her lips to his neck where her head had been resting moments before. "This isn't home, but it damn well feels close."
"Remind me to invest in a pair of good cuffs," James said, grinning. He kissed her temple, fingers running through her hair. It was unbelievably good to have her back here again, to be sure that she was alive and safe because the warmth of her in his arms was real and solid proof. "I should figure out some of that scientist magic to make them extra double strong."
He had been curious about doing that anyway, but distracted by other things; largely, distracted by Lily. By the mess that he'd found himself in the moment he'd gotten here. It was incredibly nice to not have to worry about that so much around her anymore. It did still bother him sometimes, but right now was not one of those times.
"Mm," he murmured contentedly when she kissed his neck, "Home for me is wherever my family is. Feels much more like home with you here." He paused briefly, then said, "I'm glad you weren't alone."
"Maybe you can ask for some for Christmas," Lily laughed. "I heard we're in Christmas world, after all. Funny, that. It was almost Christmas for real when I came here. So, it's early and late at the same time. Hmm." She wasn't sure her thoughts made sense, really. She hadn't gotten much sleep the past couple of nights and not only just because she didn't have James nearby to fall asleep with.
"Me, too," she replied, but soon let her words trail off as she hooked a finger around his chin and pulled him toward her for a real kiss, albeit a brief one. "I'm starting to feel more and more sympathy for your plight. I didn't see you or Harry for two days and I was consciously aware of how much that sucked." Two days was nothing on eighteen years, but if she didn't make light of it, the constant remembering how things played out in her world would drive her mental.
Chuckling, she added, "I kept a picture of you on the wall in my cell. You kept me company on the long, lonely nights behind bars, sugar." She grinned, eyes half-closing and rather pleased with her humor.
"Christmas world, really?" James said. "I hadn't even noticed." Though, now that he was paying attention, it did sort of smell like cookies. It was a nice smell, though he much preferred the scent of Lily's hair. Christmas was brilliant, though. He could do with some Christmas spirit. "I suppose we'll have to get locked up again to make sure such a good gift doesn't go to waste."
He willingly consented to being kissed, arms tightening around her as he returned it passionately. Brief as it was, he now intended to make every single kiss count; he was all too aware of how precious they were. For precisely the reasons that she'd mentioned, with everything that she'd been through on top of it. "I don't want you to ever really understand what that was like, Lily. And I'm very annoyed that other people keep making me break my promises not to leave you alone."
Curling himself more comfortably around her -- and ignoring a slightly disgruntled feline digging its claws into his side -- he nuzzled at her ear. And then laughed, his breath reflecting warmly back at him from her skin. "I'm glad, but I'm sure you're much warmer at night when you've got the real thing, dollface."
“You’re not breaking any promises,” Lily protested. “You were with me, whether you were there or not. You didn’t give up on trying to get back did you? You didn’t give up on trying to help other people try to get me out. You were there, James, even if not in the way you wanted to be.” She brushed her nose over his and kissed him again, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. Pulling back, she said, “But the upside to being apart is finding you again when I’m back. We’ve already proven that that is a good thing, yes?”
Enjoying the humor and the ability to stop feeling so serious for a few minutes (especially after being locked up for two days), Lily wrapped herself around him and let go of any thoughts she’d had of moving away or doing other things. “Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, daddy-o,” she countered and then burst into a fit of laughter. She’d tried out the words she’d heard from natives and they really, really didn’t work for her. She was not a product of the twenties and neither was her speech. “Never saying that again,” she chuckled, but then silenced herself by resuming the snog that she’d been missing since they’d parted.
Yeah, here was much better than anywhere else she could be.
"Okay, fine," James said. "But I'm still tired of being the person who tries to be there and would be there if he could. I want to be the person who does it." It was really hard to stay upset about it when she was smiling like that and kissing him, though. "Although I'm not complaining about this part."
There would never be a reason to complain about being curled up with Lily, and being here in bed-- with Potter Cat, no less-- almost felt like home. That thought almost added another bittersweet edge to the moment, but then she said something so ridiculous that he couldn't do anything but burst into laughter. He had more trouble stopping himself from laughing, even once he was snogging her, and had to pull slightly away to breathe a few times before kissing her again. Finally, his amusement subsided, replaced by the lovely way her kisses made him feel warm all the way down to his toes and made his brain go a little fuzzy.
"Mm," he murmured contentedly against her mouth, fingertips playing over her spine and around the hem of her shirt, where he could feel just a little bit of her soft skin. Not entirely sure of what he was saying, and without even really intending to, he added, "I missed you."
It was nice, Lily thought, that even though things were still complicated, they were natural enough together that it wasn’t awkward at all to laugh while snogging. There was no expectation for perfection, just an expectation for them to be themselves. Sometimes that hurt one or both of them, but right now, it was just good. She grinned against his mouth even has she felt the breath of his chuckles. “Glad I can humor you, Potter,” she teased, curling her fingers into the back of his shirt lightly.
Lily was a fan of the small things in life—the smell of coffee in the mornings, the warmth of a crackling fire on her skin, the feel of fresh linens enveloping her. This was one of those small things, too, James’ arms wrapped about her and his fingertips grazing the skin just below her shirt. Her skin tingled pleasantly and she let out small sound of contentment as she touched her cheek to his and closed her eyes, snuggling closer.
“I missed you, too.” Those were loaded words, words that she meant even if she couldn’t consciously understand the full depth of their meaning. Pulling her head back, her cheek brushing against his face, she kissed him again, slow and meaningfully. She opened her eyes briefly to look at him as she lingered over the feeling of their lips pressed together—she could feel the kiss in her bones and in the electrical current that sparked in her veins—and then smiled as she closed them again. This was totally worth getting out of prison for.