Between the impending doom of whatever was about to hit Vallo, the loss of psychic connection with the twins, and the message from the previous night from Sirius, Bonnie had expected this day to drag on in angst and stress. It had been the opposite though. The meetings with Covens, both in person and over the phone, reporting back to the DOA, and then her time at the shop made the day go by in a blink. The was later getting home that day, but right on time for when she had told Sirius she had arrived. After work, she had stopped in at the salon. Her nails had been due for a touch up, and if she was being honest, she wanted to down time before she headed into whatever conversation was awaiting her back at Grimmauld Place.
Sirius had said it was a good conversation, but that didn’t do much for her nerves. Because whatever he needed to talk to her about, Bonnie had decided that she was going to take advantage of the situation and tell Sirius exactly how she was feeling about them. It was time.
Bonnie left the salon just before she was due back home, dark red nails shiny, fresh, and giving her an odd sense of confidence. She grabbed the Waypoint home, depositing her just outside of their house.
Bypassing the wards, Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks when the entrance to Grimmauld place finally came into view. The pathway had rose petals lined with candles leading from the base of the stairs to the doorway, holding her attention for longer than a few seconds. When she did move again, she found herself checking over her shoulder to see if there was someone behind her, or something that was just missing.
“Sirius?” She said out loud, wondering if he was about to pop out from somewhere in the evening shadows to offer some sort of explanation. When she heard nothing, she slowly walked up the stairs, pulling open the door after finding it unlocked, and stepping into the house. The pathway led on into the dining room, and she slowly followed it, leaving her bag by the door after she closed it.
The dining room was set for an event that would have made the Founders Council proud. Roses and candles, music and atmosphere. It was straight out of a meticulously organized event, and Bonnie had no idea what was happening. Or she did, but her brain wouldn’t let her go there.
“Sirius?” she asked again, this time louder, turning to scan the room and listening for where he might be in the house.
Bonnie wasn’t early, but Sirius was running a few minutes late. He knew he messed up the second he heard Bonnie calling out for him from the dining room. He was still down in the kitchen, checking on last minute meal prep, and had been caught up in plating the appetizers. Cursing quietly to himself, he placed the last cucumber square on the plate and straightened up to adjust his kurta. When he was sure he was ready, he picked up the single rose ready for Bonnie and headed back upstairs to where the dining room was located.
He saw her back before she saw him as he climbed up the stairs. Without thinking, he started to smile, the sight of her always lifting whatever mood he was in. He approached her quietly, not attempting to be stealthy, but managing it anyway. “I’m right here,” he murmured, voice pitched low as he placed a hand on her lower back as he swung into her view.
As always, when he saw her, she was a sight for sore eyes. “Hello, gorgeous.”
Had she still had her psychic abilities, they would have told her where Sirius was. Not in the same way she was connected to the twins, but she would know he was there. Instead, she was slightly surprised when his voice came from behind her.
He had just come from the kitchen. The kitchen in the basement was something she was never getting used to.
She was about to turn to face him when she felt his hand on her back, and a second later, there he was. There he was with a rose, and dressed impeccably well in an outfit she lacked the name for. Bonnie’s eyes very obviously looked him up and down, taking an extra beat on the rose in his hand, before coming back to his face.
“Hi.” she said, slowly, still very unsure. “What’s….going on?” her confusion was obvious, both in her expression and voice. “Where are the twins?”
“With Regina,” Sirius explained easily, still not pulling away from Bonnie and pressed in close. “Don’t worry about them, they’re fine. I wanted to talk to you,” he said, bringing his hand around from her back to hold one of her hands. He turned it over so he could put the rose in it. “I wanted to talk to you about us.”
It was clear what kind of talk this was going to be. Bonnie was smart and they had been on the same page for awhile now, without even vocalizing it to one another. He knew this was still coming out of left field, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected, if he had been reading her cues, her actions, correctly.
At least, he hoped he had been reading them correctly.
“I asked Caroline to help me pick something nice out of your closet for you,” he said, finally pulling away and giving them both some space so that the energy that had been ramping up in between them simmered lower. He headed for a garment bag that was hanging on a door nearby, bringing it back for her. “If you wanted to change. Up to you, you look wonderful as you do,” he added, giving her an appreciative once over.
Twins were fine, okay, that was one thing she could put out of her mind then, and try to focus on what was happening at the moment. She still wasn’t completely sure she was seeing things right. But she had to be, because there was no way Sirius would go to this extent just to toy with her. He wasn’t cruel.
Caroline was involved as well. At least to some extent. Did she know what was happening here, or had she kept herself from asking too many questions? She reached out to take the garment bag, movements slow and deliberate as if she still wasn’t sure she was imagining this whole thing, or maybe she had stepped into some sort of alternate dimension. “Something nice it is.”
Whatever it was that was happening right now, she didn’t need her powers to tell her she should just go with it. So off to the half bathroom it was to change into her dress. She used the time it took her to change to keep herself calm. Don’t get too excited, don’t get worked up, don’t read too much into anything in case this was not going where she thought it was going to go. When Bonnie emerged from the bathroom, she was wearing the dress, her braids were down and loose from the ponytail she’d had them in, and without time with her makeup collection, it was as close to an evening look she was going to get.
She felt more like she belonged in the dining room the way it was now, at least. “Trust Caroline to make the right call.”
The dress hadn’t been necessary, but when she stepped back into the dining room, Sirius felt the breath leave him for a moment. It was obvious to anyone that gave her even one look, that Bonnie Bennett was gorgeous no matter what she was dressed in. But when she even gave a tenth of an effort, it was easy to be blown away.
Or maybe this was a part of being in love with her.
Sirius didn’t know, but he didn’t question it, while he busied himself with holding out a hand to her. When she took it, he shifted closer to her, bending his head so that he could talk softly into her ear. “I can see your mind racing a mile a minute.” He inclined his head closer. “Trust me,” he murmured, his lips touching the shell of her ear. The words were a repeat of his earlier words to her. “Relax.”
Bonnie’s eyes fluttered closed, her head tilted just slightly, she stood just a little straighter, her body automatically reacting to his closeness and the sound of his voice. Involuntary and not something she even wanted to try and fight when he was being like this. Which was kind of new, and she was more than okay with it.
But she definitely couldn’t relax when he was making every nerve in her body react. He clearly did not know the kind of impact he had.
“I do trust you.” and she did, completely. There was almost nothing she wouldn’t trust him with (maybe some muggle situations he was unfamiliar with). “You’re not exactly making relaxing possible at the moment.” she tired to speak like she was playing this cool, but god only knew if she was pulling it off. When she opened her eyes, she tilted her head back just slightly so she could actually look up at him, eyes questioning.
“Oh?” The smile on his face was coy, slightly playful. More like the Sirius she knew before they got pregnant, before they had the kids and they became the absolute priorities of their lives. “What’s not relaxing about this?” Now he was teasing, knowing that she wasn’t exactly panicking now. He tilted his head a little, lifting her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Does that help?” Turning the hand over, he pressed another kiss to her open palm. “How about this?” A trail of kisses followed up her arm, to the joint in her elbow.
His free hand found itself at her hips, gripping it softly and his thumb making comforting circles around the dip he found there. Looking up from where was slightly bent over her arm, he looked at her from under his eyelashes. “Maybe we should get some food in you? I know you’ve had a long day…” The words were light, an option for her to take if she was feeling overwhelmed by all of this.
But it was clear something important was happening. One way or another, their lives were going to change after this night.
He was full on messing with her now, and oddly enough there was something relaxing about that. It also confirmed her suspicions, because she really could not think of anything else that this might be. Her shoulders lowered and relaxed as she released a breath she didn’t know she was holding this whole time. She met his gaze, one eyebrow arching, a small smile on her face. “You’re bad.” Wicked, even, and he knew it.
It would be very easy to continue to see where this went, or better yet, where his mouth went. It was incredibly tempting, but something was happening here and there needed to be a conversation, even if it wasn’t a long one. Plus he was a good cook, and his dishes never disappointed.
“I could eat.” Plus it really had been a while since she had anything to eat. “And talk.” Like he had originally said. Her free hand reached out to gently cup his cheek and chin, then she guided him away from her arm so he was standing in front of her. Bonnie stepped closer, keeping her eyes locked on his. “About us.”
The smirk on his face told her exactly how much he knew she was affected by his attention on her. Merlin, they could have been doing this for years, but he had been so stuck on the past and so afraid of the future. He vowed not to waste another moment more.
Moving around her as she shifted him to the place where she wanted him, the smirk melted back into a more genuine smile. Calling on some wandless magic, the dumbwaiter opened and food started to float out of it, placing itself onto the dining table. He had spelled it to be more compact so that they could be close to each other as they ate.
“Yes,” he agreed, as he left her only long enough to pull out a chair for her to sit. His own chair was adjacent to hers, which he sat in and then pulled close to hers, so he was within touching distance still. “Let’s talk about us.” He only paused long enough to rip off a piece of freshly baked bread slathered in rosemary oil and herbs, so he could lift it to her lips to eat. Raising his eyebrows at her, he gave her an expectant look to eat.
And because he was being wicked that evening, he pulled away once she took the bite into her mouth, his fingers brushing her lips purposefully, and waited until she was chewing to say, “I love you, Bonnie Bennett, and I want to be with you.”
Bonnie didn’t argue or resist, she let him guide her to her chair as magic worked to serve their dinner. Her eyes never left him as he went to his own seat and brought his chair closer. ‘Let’s talk about us’ seemed like a good time to say exactly what she was thinking while she was feeling as brave as she was now. But she didn’t get a word out before he was holding up bread.
The smell alone was impossible to resist, and that look wasn’t leaving a lot of room to argue with. Bonnie was a stubborn person, she picked a lot of fights. Food was not going to be one of them. So she took that bite, not really expecting him to drop that on her (sort of) while her mouth was full.
It was everything she hoped to hear, and everything she wanted to say to him herself, except she had (delicious) bread in her mouth and she was unable to respond. Which was absolutely exactly what he wanted. Green eyes narrowed in on him as she was forced to chew her food, which she did so very slowly. So slowly that she leaned back in her seat and folded her hands into her lap as she continued to chew and stare him down.
But you could only drag out a mouthful of bread for so long, so eventually she had to respond. “First of all, I’d like to reiterate that you are bad.” But it was working for her. “Second of all.” Bonnie leaned forward in her seat again, close, so close this time until her face was just an inch or two away. “I love you too, Sirius Black.” Then she leaned in to kiss him. Gently, sweetly, full of all the hope she had for a future that was right there in front of them. “I only want to be with you.”
The anticipation would have killed any other man, but they had been around each other for too long to take the lack of answer, the slowness of her chewing, as anything indicating this was about to go very badly for him. Every moment she didn’t storm off, confirmed for him that he hadn’t been imagining the last year or so, of how their feelings had gone from friendly to something more.
So he sat back in his chair and returned her look with a patient smile. He could do this all night. And would, for the rest of their lives, if she allowed him.
When she moved forward, ready to speak, he mirrored her, shifting until they were inches away. His smile grew fonder the more she spoke, the more she echoed his feelings back with her own. Sirius didn’t speak until she had done, until they kissed, until she confirmed what they had been doing all along. It had only been just them this past year, but now they had the peace of mind that they were on the same page about it too. “I’m only yours,” Sirius confirmed, reaching out for her hands again, holding them tight. “There’s been no one else.”
In Tumbleweed, where she had first encountered Sirius, Bonnie had been in a very different mindset. She had only seen her future going one way in terms of family, and that was in no one way at all. After events in her home world, she couldn’t imagine ever living how she did now. But things changed. Maybe that was largely in part because of the twins. Whatever the reason, it had happened, and now she imagined an entirely different life for herself.
A life with Sirius, the twins, in an actual family unit. It was an absolute relief to finally realize that she wasn't the only one of the two of them who had been thinking about this. Sirius had to be considering it for a while, considering all the planning that had to go into tonight.
“You beat me to this.” She said with a small grin, “Though anything I would have come up with would not have been…this.” This extravagant, this grand of a gesture. “I love you. And I love our children. I want this to be a family of everything you and I didn’t get to have. I didn’t imagine any future with a family, not like this, but now it’s just so obvious to me. Especially if you keep feeding me like this,” she added, if only to keep herself from getting too emotional thinking about everything that had happened to her until now. “Because really this is just irresistible.”
“In that case, let me get the wine opened because I think you’re going to like this selection,” Sirius explained with a laugh, happiness just running through him. It was a relief that she didn’t think he waited too long to make a move, that she confirmed she had been on a similar page with him this whole time.
Wait until he finally asked her to marry him. But that would wait for another day, after they got comfortable in their current role.
Pouring them both a generous glass, Sirius raised his wine glass to toast hers. “To us and to our family.”
Bonnie was not surprised he knew all about her wine preferences. She spoke about it enough whenever she found a new bottle she liked, but the fact that he had remembered and it certainly looked like something she would like, still meant something. But even if it hadn’t been, she’d probably still like it.
Once poured, she raised her glass to toast him, “To us and our family.” she echoed before taking a sip. Bonnie made a small sound of approval as the wine hit her tongue. He was right, she did like it.
“How long have you been planning this?” she asked after a second, looking around the room at all the details that had gone into this set up. Bonnie didn’t even want to think of the time it would have taken for someone without magic to help. She was curious, how long he had been thinking of doing this, what it was it that made him realize he wanted to do it in the first place.
“This night?” Sirius asked for confirmation, giving the place a look around. Yes, it had taken a lot of time to get done, but with magic, it had come together beautifully. “A few weeks now. Remember the night at Galahd after everyone from my world started to get sent back? I decided that night I wouldn’t wait much longer. But I still wanted to do something deserving of you, so it took a few weeks longer to get it together.”
Raising his eyebrows, he asked, “You said I beat you to this?”
She remembered that night, she’d been worried about him. The latest round of disappearances had been bad. She nodded, confirming she knew what date he meant. That was probably around the time she had started debating, but Bonnie didn’t know exactly when that had happened.
“You did.” she said with another nod. “Don’t ask me when I started thinking that something had changed for me, I couldn’t tell you for sure.” Between the babies, and the hormones, and not having the time to focus on anything outside of the twins and this household. She wasn’t sure when things had started to shift. It was one thing after another until she finally realized what was happening. “I decided I was going to do something toward the end of July or early August. When you said you wanted to talk, I figured I’d bring it up tonight.”
"I'd be more apologetic about it, but I'm glad I bested you in this. You should feel wanted, chased. I want you to know that everything I feel for you isn't just because we have Seren and Zayna now. It's because I know a good thing when I see it and I'm not afraid to go after it."
The dumbwaiter rang then, with more food coming up. Their actual meals now floated to them, but he reached out for Bonnie's hand again. "Come dance with me? I want you close."
Excuse you, Sirius Black, who gave you the right to be that charming and that attractive. Bonnie tried to think of a response, some kind of equally smooth to say in return, but her brain had decided it was just easier to respond by taking his offered hand and rising out of her seat. The food would be there when they decided they wanted it. For now, close to him was where she wanted to be.