and life keeps going on

[James Sirius Potter]

Sweat was rolling down his face and his breathing was heavy as Sirius sprinted full speed down an old abandoned hikers trail in a forest near his and Claire's home. It had been months since the kidnapping of his nephew Ethan where he and Claire had come face to face with Cato Blackwell for the first time. The leader of the Nex was not someone Sirius would soon forget. After months (which felt longer than they had been) of healing up and being on desk duty at the ministry, Sirius had finally been cleared for field work once again. Granted what was now considered his "top physical condition" was nothing like it used to be, Sirius would not let that stop him. He had been cleared earlier that morning at St. Mungo's and now two hours later he had been running for quite a while without stopping. There was still pain, that was not something he could not deny, but it was for the most part, tolerable pain.

As he ran, he let his mind wander as he often did. All his life his time to clear his head was always when he was running and those times when he was not capable always left his mind feeling cluttered and overwhelmed. He thought for a bit about Juliette, about how he was soon to be a grandfather. Still not sure how he felt about this all of it made him nervous. He had less than a year ago discovered he had a daughter still and now he was going to be a grandfather as well. Besides all that the timing couldn't be worse as he was always fearing for her safety after the incident where Blackwell had come to attack her and her... boyfriend? He wasn't sure what to consider the boy to Juliette other than the father of her child right now. He sighed through his heavy breathing and decided that this coming weekend he would make his way up to the school to check on her and make sure things were okay...

Even with the cold starting to taper off in recent weeks, snow finally melting, it was still rather cold out and he could feel each icy breath in and out as he ran. He got to a clearing with a small pond where the ice on top had finally melted away almost completely and he slowed his pace. His knee and back were starting to remind him that even at his best, he needed to take it easy. That was never something he was going to get used to, he thought to himself as he wiped the sweat from his face and leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He looked around, taking in the beauty of the forest for a moment, as he gave his body a quick rest. He didn't have the patience to be still for long, sore or not, he had behaved himself through the last couple months of healing so that no one (mainly meaning Claire) could tell him he shouldn't be out pushing himself. He had waited until he was told it was safe but those were the words he had been waiting on and now that he had them, he was back to what he wanted to be doing. After just a short rest, regardless of being tired and sore, he took off again, reaching full speed in no time.

Once again his mind wandered, between thinking about the Order and when their next meeting would be and rolling facts around in his head about the Nex, trying to come to a clear answer or what the next move should be. The problem was, that at the current time, there really wasn't a next move. Without rushing in blind, and just trying to raid the headquarters of the Nex, they really had nothing that could be considered an offensive plan. Maybe though, it just wasn't time for that. It was merely his own hatred for the man that made him want to storm in and take out everyone, even if it meant using unforgivable curses. Blackwell had caused him much more pain and created more hate that Sirius had ever thought was possible. His biggest fear was that there was still more this man could take from him, which lead to his constant worry; Claire. He knew she could take care of herself, he knew he was lucky to have her in his life and he knew he shouldn't worry about it. But he couldn't help but fear that she would be taken from him too. Which was why whenever there was a chance for him keep her safe, whether it meant getting hurt himself or not, he would take it. That was the thing that he couldn't let happen. He couldn't lose her too.

The thought of not having Claire was the scariest thing in the world to Sirius. She had been in his life from the beginning and he wanted her there until the end. But with all the chaos that seemed to happen to them, especially given their chosen professions, he knew it was plausable, though he hated to think it. These thoughts were ones that could keep him up at night, ones that plagued him all the time. He had already lost so much, if he lost anyone else he might just lose it. But if he lost Claire there would be no help for him. Trying now, to think less on the depressing subjects, the worries of what might happen, he chose to focus on now. As he thought on all these things he had not realized just how long he had been running, he was nearly at the end of the trail that came out near their home once again. Even though he had not come out of this run with any clear solution on what needed to be done, just getting to think it all through and getting to run again had been stress relief enough for him. He honestly felt better than he had in months, even as tired as he now was. Panting he slowed his run to a walk and made his way back up to the house, where he sat on the front steps. It was only maybe half of what he used to run twice a day, but even that felt like an accomplishment after months of laying around. He laid back on the steps, catching his breath and closing his eyes against the sun which was now at it's afternoon peak, wondering to himself if Claire would come home for lunch or not, even though he had planned on being back at the office not too long from now anyway...


words,1125
tags, claire!
notes,it's only because i went on and on about the chaos inside his head. lol. but yay for burst of muse even for a kinda crappy but long post.

[Claire Pierce]

The office was driving her crazy. Sirius had not taken his place at the desk opposite her yet, which bothered her; not out of concern but out of boredom and irritation that he hadn't come in yet. Also, out of frustration that he hadn't touched the stack of files and forms on his desk yet. The pile kept growing, and it stressed her out just to look at it. He balanced her out and forced her to calm down (or not shout at everyone) when the office was having this kind of day. Everyone was annoying her today: the Aurors, all the way from the most senior ones to the newbies who didn't know what they were doing; two other department heads; and a variety of employees who thought today was just the perfect day to show up and have loads of questions, requests, and demands (she was livid at the last part). The department was relatively calm; nothing bad had happened in weeks, only minor problems here and there, but nothing as bad as the day they had the pleasure of being face to face with Blackwell. But times of some peace meant something else: tedious, boring meetings. And without Sirius? Claire was going to explode. So she escaped for her lunch time, normally taken at her desk as she kept working, picked up food from one of their favorite spots, and headed home, where she knew Sirius was bound to be.

Smiling, she took a step over to him to greet him, crouching down to say hello and give him a quick kiss - and then she stopped, spotting all the sweat he was sporting. It was both of her reluctance to do so when he was covered in sweat and the concern she was about to voice that made her rock back onto her heels.  "Sirius, have you been running since you got out of your appointment?" she asked suspiciously. It was pretty obvious that he had been; he looked the part, and it was so typical of Sirius to do this. She frowned slightly at him, opening her mouth and beginning an onslaught of concern and comments. "You were cleared only a few hours ago! And I know the Healers must have told you - you have to ease into it again, just because you're cleared doesn't mean you're supposed to jump back in to where you were before!"

She settled herself down to his right on the step, pursing her lips as she launched into her usual manner of annoyance and factual information. "You are supposed to begin with short periods of exercise, Sirius, you know that. Start small and build up to more and more exercise, with longer periods of time and an increase in difficulty and intensity. Your knee, and quite honestly your body overall, needs more time to ease back into strenuous activity!" She lectured on about scheduling his exercise plan ("I can set up a plan for you, Sirius, to get back to how you want!") and not overloading his body ("Promise me you won't wreck your knee all over again by doing something it can't handle. Your body isn't used to intense exercise anymore"). When she finally came to the end of her slightly irritated speech to him about healthy exercise and injuries, she wasn't frowning anymore; her expression simply mirrored the concern underlying her irritated tone. "Of course I want you to start running again, and getting back to how you want, but please don't go crazy. I worry about you enough."

Relaxing, she sighed at herself, and said, self-consciously and vaguely embarrassed, "Sorry. I've had a very stressful morning at work without you - " she cast a look implying unfair, inconsiderate abandonment, or something, at him " - and I let my pent-up annoyance and intensity out on you. I bet you thought you had gotten rid of the overly concerned, slightly overbearing Claire who would lecture you to no end about the health risks in your life." She paused, considered, and added, "Not that I don't mean one hundred percent of those lectures." Her mind briefly wandering back to the original subject, she said, "I would love if you started running with me again, by the way. It's been ages since we've done that." Ever since they were teenagers, even during the many years they lived separately, they had a routine of running together, though the routine would come and go during their adult lives during periods of injury, laziness, changes in schedule, or whatever. But she had always enjoyed it, whether it was their runs back in school very early in the morning or going out before or after work. "Well, if you're willing to get up as early as I do, that is."

Releasing another sigh, she leaned forward and rested one hand while the other found his right hand. Knowing she should change the subject, she thought of the time (she knew she should be back by 1) and the food waiting inside. "Are you going to shower and come into work? Save me from the boredom and tedium of today, please." She was about to let him respond, and then cheerfully added, "Plus, you have a massive stack of papers to deal with that I am not touching." Standing up finally, she tugged on his hand to prompt him to join her, and explained, "I brought lunch home for us; I needed to get out of that office, and seeing you is a nice perk, I suppose," she said playfully.

notes: 1. so i decided they were running buddies. that's a thing now. i think this was something we had written a long time ago and it has stuck with me, i suppose. 2. i hope you like it!! i'm a little rusty but it seems that ranting claire is never too hard to get into. 3. god she's obnoxious. i apologize.

[James Sirius Potter]

The quiet of the early afternoon was short lived as Claire arrived home. "Sirius, have you been running since you got out of your appointment?" He knew better than to try and deny it, which meant the first thing she felt she needed to do was lecture and Sirius knew he had it coming. He had known that when he decided not to come into work at all this morning. He had known Claire for their whole lives and he knew one thing wouldn't change. Her need to express her concerns to him about his heath, no matter how much she knew he was going to do what he wanted anyway. It was only in more recent years if not months that he had been more compliant with doing things her way, or the healers way, or whoevers way besides his own.

. "You were cleared only a few hours ago! And I know the Healers must have told you - you have to ease into it again, just because you're cleared doesn't mean you're supposed to jump back in to where you were before!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at her as she sat down next to him. "That trail can't be more than a mile and a half, I used to run four or more no problem, and I took a break! I was good." He smirked at her, but knew he wasn't going to stop the inevitable. She continued on to tell him how he really needed to take his time getting back into it so he didn't end up hurting himself. She went so far as to offer to make a plan for him to follow to which he tried to explain to her that he had a plan, where she cut him off to explain once again the reason's he needed to not over do it. When she asked him to promise not to wreck his knee again, he sighed and said, "Even if I tried I don't think it's getting much worse. But I promise, when something hurts more than it already does normally, I'll stop." to which he was sure to get more hell about.

"Of course I want you to start running again, and getting back to how you want, but please don't go crazy. I worry about you enough."

A smile came across his face and he reached up and touched her cheek and brushed some hair out of her face. "I promise, I'm going to take it easy. I don't need you being even crazier than I already make you." With a smirk he continued, "I'm not going to apologize for going running today though, I needed it. I'll probably regret it tomorrow and be sore but I needed it. I'm really feeling like I can be less of the angry ass hole I've been since desk duty." It was true, Sirius had been much more irritable and less of his goofy self while being stuck in the office all day every day. At first it had been good to be back at work, but now it had gotten to the point where he just couldn't take it anymore. He was never good at being still in the first place so having no choice (and literally no choice because he had promised Claire) made it even worse.

Claire apologized for taking all her built up frustrations out by lecturing him to which he simply laughed a little about. He had honestly expected the lectures and everything, but it hadn't stopped him from doing it anyway. Then Claire brought the subject back to running. "I would love if you started running with me again, by the way. It's been ages since we've done that." To this Sirius smiled, "I would love to. It has been a while." Then he felt the need to add, " But you don't decide when I need a break, I do." Then she mentioned if he was willing to get up early enough to go in the first place and he said, "You wouldn't rather go in the evenings? I've gotten quite attached to our bed in the mornings lately."

Then she reached out and took his hand and he couldn't help but smile again. Everything about the two of them felt right to him and he couldn't help but once and a while stop to notice just how great it was.

"Are you going to shower and come into work? Save me from the boredom and tedium of today, please." She was about to let him respond, and then cheerfully added, "Plus, you have a massive stack of papers to deal with that I am not touching." Groaning he mumbled, "I don't want to work on anymore damn paperwork..." Claire then stood up and tugged at his hand to which he got up as well with slightly stiff movements after his first run in ages.

Then Claire said, "I brought lunch home for us; I needed to get out of that office, and seeing you is a nice perk, I suppose," she said playfully. To this Sirius smiled, "Wonderful, I'm starving. And I'm very glad you came home from lunch. Lectures aside, I'm happy to see you and you bringing food is just that much better."



notes, I hope you enjoy it, it was definitely a blast to write! I didn't really proof read just so you know. And yeah i totally kinda remember them being running buddies before so that works! yay!

[Claire Pierce]

Claire had always been prone to excessive worry when it came to Sirius - for as long as she could remember he had been awfully reckless and thoughtless, hurtling through life too impulsively and with too little thought. Of course, this had always stressed her out, concerned her, made her more scared about things as she got older, elicited lectures, and only increased her instinct to plan, think ahead, and think things through. Someone had to balance out this idiot, after all. Unfortunately for Sirius, his dumb decisions always had Claire's response tacked on to whatever else had come of them: lectures about his health, poor choices, bad behavior. For someone so headstrong, she always worried about letting him be like that too.

He was already rolling his eyes, probably sighing internally and thinking "why, Claire, why?", when she sat down and launched into her rant. At a break in all her talking, he said, "That trail can't be more than a mile and a half, I used to run four or more no problem, and I took a break! I was good." She considered this statement briefly, then said, "But you did too much for your first day back at it! You're supposed to build back up, Sirius." She was glad, though she didn't say it out loud, that he had chosen that particular trail. There were more difficult routes that she knew he loved, because they had been running on them for years, ever since she had moved into this house, and they would have been much worse for him. But still, she reminded herself. Plus, he was smirking at her, so she raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, "Really, Sirius?"

"But my exercise plan would be so good..." she started to say, then pursing her lips. Truly, it would be. Among her vast mental collection of information was a very good knowledge of health and exercise, amassed from years of reading and experience. She had even gotten him to follow her plan after the first two major injuries he had, which she had been quite pleased about. When he said he thought his knee could get worse, she shot him a skeptical look. "Well, actually," she began now, her tone shifting to the way Claire could sound like a textbook out loud, "your knee could get worse. In fact, it's possible that more incidents involving your knee could cause further damage." She rambled on for a minute or so in her textbook manner, explaining information she had gathered from medical sources and his own particular problems.

"Anyways, you have a tendency to keep pushing on, even when it hurts and my voice in the back of your mind says you should stop. Listen to that voice sometime, you know I say some smart things sometimes," she said lightly, shifting back. Without meaning to, she smiled back at him as he did so while he brushed the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail out of her face. It was a small gesture, but she still smiled, relaxing just a bit. He promised, adding, I don't need you being even crazier than I already make you. She rolled her eyes, muttering, "Very true."

Of course he wasn't going to apologize for it - she had known he wouldn't, and that wasn't why she was talking to him about this anyway. She told him this, adding on some muttered comment about how he was too stubborn. "Oh, you're going to really regret it tomorrow, when I drag you out of bed for work and every step feels awful," she told him, with an odd mixture of sympathy and satisfaction. She was so kind. "If only exercise could magically make me less of an angry asshole at work too," she said, grinning a little despite herself. Being limited to his desk certainly had made him less easy going at work, especially as he watched everyone, including Claire, leaving the office for field work. Even when Claire went to speak with a nasty woman about a case, Sirius had been sitting jealously at his desk, grumpy and doing paperwork. He was so impatient and frustrated with not being cleared beyond desk duty that he had become more and more like Claire, as they were both then irritable with everyone. And she really did miss having him by her side outside the office - it was so weird without him.

In addition to agreeing to their runs, which made her smile widely, he said, "But you don't decide when I need a break, I do." "Ah, well, as long as you know I'm still going to argue with you about that," she said with a grin, keeping it light and joking rather than overbearing as she sometimes verged on. She smiled more at his following question. "You wouldn't rather go in the evenings? I've gotten quite attached to our bed in the mornings lately." As she took his hand, she said, "I could possibly be persuaded, but of course I am very used to my routine. I might need some convincing to not be dragging you out of our bed when the sun is still coming up." Sometimes she had moments where she couldn't believe this was happening: holding hands, saying "our bed" (the fact that they were sharing a bed still amazed her sometimes when she woke up in the morning and he was right there), playfully talking about things that were very much not the norm for their relationship until only a few months ago. She smiled again without noticing just at the thought of it.

As she got him to stand up, he complained about the paperwork and she couldn't help but laugh. "You're going to be even more upset when you see the stack. And more so when you see all the things I had to add to it this morning in your absence." As she walked back into the house and toward the kitchen with him following, he said, Lectures aside, I'm happy to see you and you bringing food is just that much better." She wondered aloud, jokingly, "Really, which makes you happier: me or the food?" Stopping just short of the kitchen, where she had set the bag of food before going outside to see him, she paused and turned back around to him. Even in her heels she was nowhere near his height so she stood even taller to quickly kiss him. Frowning at his post-run gross sweatiness, she gave him a request. "Can you please go shower?" She smiled sweetly, taking a step backwards to the kitchen.


notes: 1. as always, we both write sirius as having had way too injuries. when will he listen.... 2. had fun with this one although it's a bit all over the place. i didn't read over it again either oops

[James Sirius Potter]

He couldn't keep the smirk away from his face when he told her that the trail wasn't that long and she had no reason to be upset. Clearly, she was annoyed with his response as she gave him that look. The look she gave him when he did something or said something completely insane or stupid to her. After all these years, he knew that look well. Claire preceded to tell him that no matter what he had to say about it, he still did too much for being cleared only hours earlier. He simply decided to let her win this one, knowing nothing he could say would change her mind about his choice in the first place. That still didn't mean that he thought she was being just a smidge too worried. Not that he hasn't given her years of reasons to worry about him like this and he knew that. Over all the times that he had gotten injured, whether due to bad decision or circumstances completely out of his control, he had always rushed himself to getting back to normal. Only in more recent years when it was just too much for his body to handle had he really started to get down the rest and healing parts of it. Even now he was already starting to feel the consequences and proof that Claire was right in what she was saying; but he would never admit it.

Sirius knew that in the end he would end up agreeing, like it or not, to do things Claire's way. He would be stuck running short distances and annoyed out of his mind when she could deny him something he wanted to do. In the end, it was only because it was Claire that he was compliant at all. The fact that he didn't want her to go completely insane worrying about him hurting himself again, was the reason he would deal with anything like that. Anyone else he would roll his eyes at and do whatever he wanted; because that is what Sirius does. Patience just is not a thing for him that is what her exercising plans would force him to do. "You know I'll do it. I won't like it, but I'll do it. Only to keep you from bugging me all the time though." he finally said with a small grin.

Once again he found himself rolling his eyes when she responded to his saying his knee couldn't be much worse off. She gave him all the medical reasons why and how it could get worse and to that he simply shrugged, but chose not to say anything else because it would insight an argument and he knew it. "Anyways, you have a tendency to keep pushing on, even when it hurts and my voice in the back of your mind says you should stop. Listen to that voice sometime, you know I say some smart things sometimes," she said to him lightly. After promising to be careful as to not make her crazy during all of this she managed to smile back at him, as they both knew how true it was. The fact that she put up with all the insane things that Sirius could get himself caught up in was just amazing to him. Maybe it was normal to her now, but he knew she would never stop reminding him to be careful either way.

"Ah, well, as long as you know I'm still going to argue with you about that," Claire said to him and he shook his head. "Argue all you want, it's not like I'll just stop because you want me to, every time." he said with a shrug as she then considered his comment about changing routine for evening running instead of the early morning. "I could possibly be persuaded, but of course I am very used to my routine. I might need some convincing to not be dragging you out of our bed when the sun is still coming up." He grumbled for a moment about how much he hated mornings, and coffee wasn't enough to make waking up early any better and that if she loved him he would let him sleep. The whole time though he had a playful grin on his face, as he often did while talking to Claire. No matter how he was feeling she could always seem to get that playful, cheerful, normal Sirius personality to come out, which he loved about her.

As they went inside, Claire responded to his grumblings about more paper work. "You're going to be even more upset when you see the stack. And more so when you see all the things I had to add to it this morning in your absence." Sirius groaned once again. "You're not making me want to go into work today... I might just take the whole day off. I can do that if I want, I'm department head." Not often did Sirius use being department head as a way to slack off. Usually, he spent longer hours there than anyone else. But when he was finally burnt out and couldn't take it anymore, he definitely just didn't go in at all the next day. The smell of the food she had brought home reached his nose as they got closer to the kitchen and he grinned when she asked him which really made him happier, her or the food. "That's a close one love, but you definitely win." Then she turned towards him and reached up to give him a quick kiss, but then once again requested that he take a shower.

"Okay, okay, shower, then food. But I'm starving, so this is unfair." he said with a grin as he took his shirt off and kissed her cheek real quick before heading off for the shower.




notes, i enjoyed writing this, i just kept getting distracted! sorry it took so damn long! i'll be on some time tomorrow afternoon/evening and I look forward to you're reply, but i work at 8 am so bed needs to happen soon. so sad. i'm not even tired.ps. i didn't finish proof reading! sorry!

[Claire Pierce]

It was all so typical of them. He kept smirking and trying to convince her he was right, while she kept giving him him that infamous look that meant she thought he was being ridiculous and bothersome. She knew that she was right - and she had as strong suspicion that Sirius was currently thinking that she was worrying about him too much. But that wasn't a new development in their relationship; she had been worrying about him for more than twenty years. She worried, she lectured, he complained, he tried to convince her otherwise. It was one of their most regular, enduring behaviors and patterns. (Being partners in crime, obnoxious and pranking and ridiculous, was something that surpassed the worrying. This had occurred since childhood.) Some things never changed with them. Honestly, she thought, he should get used it by now, and she told him so.

Finally, he conceded, grinning a little and saying, "You know I'll do it. I won't like it, but I'll do it. Only to keep you from bugging me all the time though." She grinned back, raising her hands in success. "Yes! Then she added, "Now I'll go a little less crazy. That's a success for you! She was being light about it all now; sometimes she had to be, or her worrying self, who he would barely listen to anyways, would be overbearing and frustrating and he would just argue about it with her. She had certainly learned this, after years and years of discussions and arguments about drinking and smoking, as well as just taking care of his body. Claire wasn't trying to be a know it all who just wanted to push her opinion on him; it all stemmed from her caring too much about him, causing her to worry about him for much of their lives, and it could make her go a little crazier, as they had both learned.

She frowned at him as he shrugged and said he would not just stop whenever because she wanted him to. Sirius could be so stubborn, but so was she, so they would always be divided over things like this. "Fine," she said, "I just don't want you to be in a lot of pain, okay? I don't want you to push so hard it makes it more difficult to recover. That is all I'm saying about it." They would probably debate this a few more times, such as when they started running again, but for now, she was done talking about it. She had shared her opinion and completed her attempts to convince him; they could deal with it later if they must. Right now, the discussion she had started (naturally; Sirius rarely started these) was making her more tired now that she had let her opinions out while feeling frustrated about it. Instead, Claire squeezed his hand and softly said, "Thank you." She paused, then clarified. "For considering and for dealing with me."

Sirius hated mornings, so now he went on about why she should let them run in the evening instead of continuing her standard early morning runs with him. "A run in the morning is a perfect way to start the day!" she insisted. Then he said that is she loved him she would let him sleep. "Oh, no, Sirius, you can't pull that card right now. I could have said, 'if you love me....' in this discussion, but I didn't! That's unfair," she declared, but she was holding back a smile. These sort of conversations, playful and joking and light, were what she loved on a day like this when she was otherwise dealing with frustrating, stressful people at work (who he should probably be dealing with). This was normal Sirius, and she was always happy to see this.

When they went inside, he said, "You're not making me want to go into work today... I might just take the whole day off. I can do that if I want, I'm department head." She dropped her smile, looking exasperated, as she did anytime he considered this, joking or not. "That's not a very good thing to do, as head of the department. And do you want your employees to get killed by me? Because that might happen if you don't come back." Then she changed her expression, smiling that sweet smile at him that meant that she had a good point coming. "After the meeting at 1:30 that we are both supposed to be at, I guess I'll just go follow my lead on our case by my own... You know, field work? Which you were finally cleared for?" She shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose you're not interested in that. Well, either way, decide about work before that meeting. If you would like to come with me, the meeting is over before the work I have to attend to, and you've got to come with me to what is bound to be an awful meeting."

Before she turned away into the kitchen, he said, "That's a close one love, but you definitely win." So then she gave him a quick kiss, and when she pulled away and settled herself back on her heels and in her short height, she said, "Mhm. Good." He finally agreed to a shower, adding, "But I'm starving, so this is unfair." She smirked at him while he kissed her cheek, "Pay back for not coming to work this morning and leaving me there alone. That was unfair." He went upstairs to shower, while she went into the kitchen and warmed up their food, setting it out on the table so he wouldn't go completely crazy.


notes: I was able to write this before I left this morning! I hope it's okay, it was kind of rushed.