Surprise! [Lucien]

[Haylee Jordan]

It had been an extraordinarily problem-free evening at the Spell Damage department and at St. Mungo's in general. Usually she would be working until well past six o'clock but today she decided to take the evening off. Being the head of Spell Damage did have its slight perks. She was in high spirits as she entered the Ministry of Magic through its floo network, casually waving at some people she knew and stopping to exchange a few friendly words every now and then. Some people would ask if she was going to visit Laurent, though not without suppressing a teasing grin.

The morning had been uneventful, filled with a few unliftable jinxes, but nothing otherwise serious. She finally reached the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. She turned the final corner on the way to Lucien's office when she saw his door open. The brass plaque reading Lucien Laurent reflected the fake-sunlight streaming in through the windows and she stopped in her tracks immediately. Some woman with blonde hair walked out of his office and her eyes widened as she took in the height of her heels.

She hadn't realised that her mouth had fallen open and that her skin began to turn hot as her temper started to smolder. Without further ado, she pulled open his office door once again and walked in. Without even bothering with so much as a good day, she let the door fall back with a profound bang. "Who was that?" she demanded. "What was that - that - hussy doing in here anyway?" She did not leave him room to say anything, her temper having flared too high for her to see sense. "Well?!" She crossed her arms over her chest, her red curls cascading down her shoulders as she shook them back, angrily.

[Lucien Laurent]

"Laurent."

Lucien looked up from the open file that laid out on his desk which, up until this very moment, had been taking the full of his attention. He was about to wave whoever it was off, to tell them to come back at a time that was more convenient, but he couldn't very well tell that to Lara Collins. Closing the folder, he sat up straighter to show that she had his undivided attention.

"Did you finish filing the Benson report?" she asked.

"The splinching?" He stood up and walked to his filing cabinet, milling through some of the manila folders before pulling a large one out. "Yes. I have made copies and sent it to the record keeper to file in the archives."

"What was the final word on that?"

"Well, we were able to put her right. Owen had to deal with the two dozen muggles that saw her, not to mention that nasty meeting he had with the Prime Minister. In the end, we had to send a team of obliviators out to tie up the loose ends. The muggles have since been released from St. Mungo's and have gone about their daily lives with no indication that they recall the incident. The Prime Minister is pleased... for now."

"Good, good," she said hastily. "Now, if you could please help Leon with the Huntington file, then we might be able to get out of here before five today. I'd very much like an early start to the weekend, wouldn't you?" she asked. "Let me know when you've finished, Laurent."

"Yes ma'am," he said, rummaging now through the H's for his own copy of the Huntington, a Death Eater, apparently. Killed four muggles with the Avada Kedavra in plain sight, and before the RS could get there, they had to wait for the Aurors and Law Enforcers to show up. That was just all sorts of messy. Thankfully, Huntington was now resting not-so-comfortably in a cell in Azkaban, but many muggles still were lying injured in hospital beds. Howards had his work cut out for him on this one.

He was just about to send a memo to him to get an update on the official press release given to the muggles when the familiar voice of a certain woman had his head jolting up from his papers. "Haylee," he said, his voice not hiding his confusion. It didn't take long to catch on. They'd been dating long enough for him to know... Though it did strike him as odd that this was the first time she'd seen that woman. "You mean Lara Collins?" he said slowly. "My boss... Who was here because... well... she's my boss."

Setting the folder down, he stood to walk around his, his lips giving way to a smile. "And what are you doing here?" he asked, reaching out for her. "Come love. As adorable as you are when you're pouting, I would much rather you see smile." Stepping closer, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. "How was work?"

[Haylee Jordan]

Haylee's anger evaporated the moment everything started to click into place. She couldn't help but to blush from embarassment, fighting the urge to turn on her heel and leave because she could not stand the mental image of looking like a tomato. Red hair and blushing just did not go together. "Oh," she said, feeling quite stupid for jumping to conclusions so quickly. She toyed with a lock of hair. It made sense now. Of course she knew Lara Collins, Lucien's boss. It was just that at the moment, she had been too blinded by jealousy to make the connection.

She allowed a fleeting smile and shrugged when he mentioned work. "I don't know... there was just nothing going on today and I figured that I would come and... surprise you?" She frowned. "That didn't work out quite the way it was supposed to," she admitted. "Plus, I haven't had a free evening in - " she paused. "Forever." She glanced around Lucien's office, taking in the amount of files on his desk. Her eyes widened considerably. "I should go, you're busy. Aries, Leto and Helios would benefit from me being home once in a while, anyway," she said, referring to her three siberian huskies. The dogs were used to her coming home late, but she felt guilty leaving them alone for such long periods of time in any case.

[Lucien Laurent]

She was so adorable when she knew she'd messed up. He knew better than to tell her that, though. Moving back, he sat on his desk, but considering the height difference, it really only made him about even with her, his long legs stretching out beneath on of the blue guest chairs. "Well, sweetheart, you did surprise me. I'll give you that," he laughed, taking her hand in his. He pulled her closer to him, his arms going around her waist. She was much more interesting than the papers waiting for him behind her.

He almost groaned when she said she had a free evening though. Now he really needed to get this file closed. "Collins says that if I finish this last file today, we'll all get off early. I'm hoping to be out by five. I think I could push four. Would you like me to drop by later... I could bring some take out," he said, his voice dropping to a playful whisper as his lips brushed her cheek. "And you, me, and the three kids," as he always referred to her dogs, "Can just take in the evening enjoying one another's company."

[Haylee Jordan]

Now she was smiling. Who cared about blushing anyway? As long as Lucien looked at her and held her like that, she could have been a strawberry for all she cared. She smiled, her mood brightening considerably at the prospect of spending the evening with him. "You don't have to bring a take-out! I could cook something, just tell me what you'd like." When he mentioned her dogs she couldn't help but to roll her eyes.
"Oh, yes, that would be very romantic," she said, sarcasm lining her voice. "The 'three kids' will be jumping all around us and you know Aries' jealousy." Aries was the alpha of her pack and he was almost as jealous when Lucien was around her as she was when other women were around Lucien. She smiled absentmindedly tried to flatten his hair with one hand. What had she done to deserve this? She kissed him and turned to leave. "So, you'll be there around five?"

[Lucien Laurent]

"There's that smile," he said. Okay, so he had to be careful or she'd accuse him of borderline patronizing her, and last time he was accused of that, well... He was not one who liked being in the doghouse for very long. "Or, better yet," he whispered, dragging his lips gently to hers, pecking them quickly before leaning back, "I could cook for you." It was something he prided himself on. His cooking, that was. Growing up, his parents had made sure that he was about as able in the kitchen as any other room in the house. Despite not being home much, it was the one thing they took the time to teach him. Something about heritage and it being shameful for a French man to be outcooked by the English... Or something to that effect. "Since you surprise me, love, I'll surprise you."

He laughed, feeling the mountains of stress and tension leave his shoulders for just a moment. "I swear, I'm going to get that dog of yours to like me," he vowed. "I suppose it would help if I stopped taunting him." He knew it bothered Aries when he held Haylee... or tickled her... or did pretty much anything that involved touching her. And yet, he sometimes did it just to tease him. "I'm a bad person," he said with a smile.

He returned her kiss and looked back at the files. "Something like that, yeah. I'll probably stop by my place first to grab the ingredients and what not. Your fridge is always so depressingly empty."

[Haylee Jordan]

Haylee bit back a rather un-ladylike retort when he almost teasingly mentioned her smile. Funnily enough, that only made it more difficult not to smile. W hen he mentioned cooking for her, a glazed look entered her eyes: somewhere between a fine mist and that familiar curtain that appeared everytime her parents held long lectures. Not that they did that much anymore. Every now and then, her father would call her on the telephone and ask her if she was still "around that Frenchman." Whenever she said yes, he would hang up and her mum would call her sometime in the evening to apologize. She did not know what it was, but something about Lucien bothered her parents immensely. "Or we could do that. I do like your cooking... as long as you don't make those escargot stuff," she added, teasingly.

She smiled when he laughed. She loved his laugh. It reminded her time and time again what she liked best about him: his joy at the simple things. Like Aries growling menacingly whenever he dared to so much as touch her arm. She laughed at the thought and leaned down to kiss him again. "I suppose it would help if you stopped touching me," she teased. "But that would be no fun. My poor baby - " she started, referring to Aries " - he feels that he needs to protect me against big, bad Luc." She giggled and actually tweaked his nose affectionately. "Oh, yes, you're a very bad person." Again, the sarcasm.

Then he mentioned her fridge. "Oy! My fridge is not depressing. Now, Armageddon, that's depressing. I just like to keep things... neat and orderly." She might as well have "big-fat-liar" blinking on her forehead. She hardly ever had time to buy groceries, too occupied by her job and all the... extra stuff she decided to handle, to focus on something as minimal as shopping.

[Lucien Laurent]

Whenever she got that look on her face, he wondered what she was thinking. He stood up again to stretch, dwarfing her with his incredible height. He stood with the tallest of men - not many could claim that they could stand shoulder to shoulder with Sirius Black... Or Remus Lupin. But, in his opinion, they wore it better... Well, that is to say, they were a bit more solid than he was. Not that he wasn't in shape. Actually, he took great pride in how he'd cared for his body... The point was, he looked a lot lankier than somebody like Sirius Black. Finally, she spoke, making him come out of his own thoughts about how tall his boss and the Head of the Auror department was. "It's not that bad," he said. "It's a delicacy, you know and we French take great pride in our delicacies." He had made sure to slip into his French accent, something he was actually able to switch on and off. It helped that the years he spent in England had toned it down quite a bit. Sometimes, the accent would come through... particularly when he was angry, or when certain words brought it out.

"Not touch you love? Well... if that's what you want," he teased, crossing his arms as if to show he wasn't going to touch her anymore. He laughed again when she giggled. He was just the sort of person who had to laugh when somebody else was laughing. It couldn't be helped. He caught her hand after she touched his nose. Normally, he hated when people did that. Drawing attention to his nose was a big no-no as it was one of the things he'd always been insecure about. But, this was Haylee and he never felt insecure around her. Pulling her close again he said in a whine, "I really wish I could go home now."

He chuckled. "No... I think your fridge tops Armageddon. And yes, I'd expect that from a Healer, but there's nothing to keep neat and orderly."

Well, he could sit here all day and talk to her, but a glance at his clock told him he didn't have much time to waste. Leaning in to kiss her, he said, "I have to get back to work, love. I'll see you tonight."