Beyond

She knew how those shirts fitted him by now. The way each of them brought out the blue of his eyes or picked out the gold in his hair, the way the crisp fabric softened under her touch. How they looked when they were draped over the chair in the corner of her bedroom. Jo would’ve said she knew the man beneath just as well, but, oh, it had been deeper than that even when there had been someone else between them.

Now the ghosts had grown thin enough that there was nothing to dull the way Magnus’ palm felt against hers. Tiny shifts of muscle and bone flipping her stomach beneath the cling of her dress – the one that would find its way from her closet more often now that it had been threaded through with Magnus’ compliment, just like her heart.

In the months, years, after she had left England for that final time those were all she’d had left. Words and memories that she would wrap herself in as she sobbed her way through those cold, lonely nights on the road. It would have been easy to flip the switch and save herself from it all. Some did, unable to take the way vampirism heightened their emotions, turning the walk of most of their feelings into a fierce gallop. Grief had struck her heart like a kick from North Wind. Imprinting itself in the aching muscle that felt barely capable of fluttering with life. The bruises of it had faded, but Jo was certain she could have still traced every line of it. Could have.

The sun caught those golden streaks in Magnus’ hair as they walked, giving a good man the halo he had long deserved, despite any reservations he might have had over his own sainthood. Magnus’ deft touch had softened the scars around her heart, drawing feelings out of her that she’d tried and failed to dull over the years. Pleasure slipped out of her on a hum as he dipped his head to kiss her temple. ”You’re that tired of my cooking?” she asked lightly, her lips curving around those teasing words.

She inched closer, turning into him enough to nuzzle his shoulder before she glanced past him and up at the sky again. ”It’s getting colder at night,” she agreed. ”And the storms are on their way again. I got caught in that downpour last night.” Luckily it had been as she’d reached down, instead of out on those snaking roads between Mystic Falls and Whitmore. She’d be forever grateful to the foul weather that thrown her into Magnus’ path again, but there’d been a faint quiver in the pit of her stomach as the sky had seemed to lower like her car was about to be wrapped in lead before she pulled in behind her building. The first drops had been splashing against her window screen, hitting her bare arms and legs as she’d run for the back door and the sanctuary of her apartment.

They’d have been storing wood for the winter already in their tiny home. It would chase the chill from the damp air, but boy was she grateful for modern boilers and heat that didn’t leave everything smelling like smoke. There was still something to be said for huddling together in the cold though, chasing shared warmth, wrapping up in each other as much as the covers. Roxxi might have called her old fashioned for looking forward to something relatively chaste, but there was something thrilling in it beneath the tenderness that she knew would be there.

”I’m glad you are,” she murmured before she laughed lightly, colour touching her cheeks with the same pink that was working its way across the sky. ”Roxxi told me about it. Apparently she didn’t make it through her date there, but that’s not a reflection on the restaurant itself.” At least she hoped it wasn’t. She wouldn’t have been able to tell if there shouldn’t have been red wine in something or if they used the wrong sort of spice. Food was secondary to the company.

It looked the part as they arrived, the waiters clad in their black vests, candles spilling warmth and light onto the crisp white tablecloths, napkins folded neatly on the tables. Jo slipped into her seat, glad that the tables were small enough that she could reach across to take Magnus’ hand if she wanted to. For the moment she tucked her legs beneath her chair, her gaze taking in everything between them before they rose to meet Magnus’. He seemed happy with her choice, that smile lighting up his face again. ”Roxxi was right, it is. She thought I’d like it, that we’d like it.” In her head it was probably the perfect spot for an old fogey’s date.

She traced her fingers over the menu, not really reading anything on it. Her memories were welling back up instead – the little tastes of home she’d tried to bring to the castle (failing for the most part, the English had been horrified at the idea of farming yaks especially). ”Did you ever travel back there?” Jo asked softly. ”I went back across Europe, and every time I found somewhere, something new, I wanted to share it with you all. I was tempted to find someone to go for me, but it felt like it would reveal too much. I love that I can share it all with you now, instead of just storing it up in here.” It had been more than just pasta or the beauty of a waterfall she’d stopped to water North Wind’s son at. It had been so many wonders, so many words she hadn’t been able to speak to them, stored up in her heart as though she’d known there’d be a day like this and a second chance with the people she loved.

Tagged: MAGNUS DAYNE * Word Count: 984

The frown that caught at Magnus’ features at the idea of her being caught in a storm again had her reaching across to settle her other hand on his arm for a moment, rubbing like she could ease that fear. ”I’m always care,” Jo assured him, her hand rubbing lightly. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. ”I promise to call if I need you, too.” She would have argued that it put him at risk then, but she was sure it would have found deaf ears. Magnus had spent his entire human existence putting his life in another’s hands, the centuries hadn’t changed that part of him too much.

Every glance at him, every lingering look revealed glimpses of the man she had known then. Courteous touches, the glint in blue eyes and the warmth of a smile that had made those first few months in the castle easier to bear. This was new, the restaurant, something formal, but even here she could see those tiny flickers of young Magnus. His grin had her laughing lightly, a blush warming her cheeks as she nodded. ”She noticed something had changed with me after we met again. I told her about us – as much as I could – and then more later. I think she realised she could cook half of this stuff better than the restaurant could.” Undoubtedly Roxxi was right, but it felt special enough for the two of them. Magnus in a chain burger place definitely would’ve been a mismatch.

Finding Roxxi heartbroken and trapped in a vicious cycle that was literally tearing her to pieces had stripped away some of the shields she’d kept up between the two of them. Magnus had been able to see what she was almost from the second they’d found one another again, but truth was something that had spilled out between her and Roxxi like blood that had welled from the wounds Roxxi’s own claws were carving into her. Thank God it hadn’t changed the way the two of them looked at each other.

Travelling back through Europe a century after she’d left hadn’t been easy. She’d avoided that corner of England that had been home, knowing she wouldn’t have survived the heartbreak of knowing exactly what had happened after she left. Even now, Jo knew she couldn’t dig. Kaegan and their sons had lived out the rest of their lives not knowing the horrors she’d gone through – living in peace. She’d gone through more than six centuries believing they’d found some happiness afterwards. ”Mm hmm,” Jo murmured lightly, the corner of her mouth twitching up faintly as she studied his face. ”It was like a rock in a river for me, my journey diverting around home.” A part of her wondered if it would’ve changed if she’d gone back there with the two of them, or if it would’ve just torn at her heart.

”Did he appreciate it?” Jo asked lightly, trying to bury the ache in her heart again. Her lips pressed together for a moment, something vaguely sad filtering into her smile. ”I never could stay anywhere for long.” The itch had always returned, the desire to see a world that would’ve been denied to her if she’d stayed and married the man her step-mother had picked out for her.

Her smile brightened as Magnus took charge with the waiter. It took on an apologetic edge for a moment as she picked up her menu as though chagrined. ”I could talk your ears off with them,” she admitted. ”Put you to sleep like they’re lullabies.” She had done the same with her sons when they were smaller. Another pang caught her in the pit of her stomach at the thought. Covering it up, she puffed out an amused breath, letting her gaze rake over her menu before she looked up and met Magnus’ eye. When the waiter returned she’d likely just order on autopilot, what she ate not as important as the man in front of her.

Jo didn’t hesitate before she nodded at Magnus’ question. She reached across the table for his hand, as though she needed the touch to make him hear the honesty in her voice. ”I see you as my home,” she said softly. It had always been that way for her. Her parents, Ananda, her aunts and uncles, had always meant so much more than the house in Cambulac with its stables and courtyard. ”I’m not going anywhere,” Jo promised. Not without him, and only if, when Magnus decided to move again. Mystic Falls wasn’t like other places, the town was filled with the supernatural, people lingering here long before they would’ve moved on from other places.

Laughter rolled out of her softly as she shook her head, something wry in her grin now. ”I’d be worried if it was,” she mused. ”It does seem like somewhere made for people like us though. Did you know that when you came here?” She hadn’t heard anything past the general rumours that had leaked out, but now it felt like just the camouflage she needed to be able to stand with one foot in the past, one in the future, both hands gripping those of the man who straddled that line with her. ”Oh, I should choose,” she said lightly as the waiter made his way back towards them. ”Do you want something to share to start?” Roxxi might have been able to pick and choose the few diamonds in the rough of a menu she’d turned her nose up at, but she was slightly in the dark here.

Tagged: MAGNUS DAYNE * Word Count: 934