Backdated!
Who: Rebecca Corner and Euan Pamplemoss
What: A thank-you dinner gets a little handsy!
Where: Corner residence!
When: Last week?



Rebecca couldn't even pretend to be at ease, and she was an expert at behaving as if nothing moved her. There had never been a time in her life that she couldn't contain how flustered or out of place she felt, not one that she could control anyway (the earthquake, that was a complete disaster on so many levels). But right now, in the large library of the Corner home, Rebecca was ready to open up one of the cabinet doors and hide inside of it for the rest of the night. How had her parents thought that inviting Euan Pamplemoss to their home, for dinner no less, was a good idea?

And! And with an unexpected visit from her uncle, aunt, and their newborn daughter, dinner had been cut short, but 'it would be rude to send Healer Pamplemoss home so early! Rebecca, dear, you should give him a tour!'

She had never wanted to throttle her mother before.

"My father's very proud of his collection of medical text," Rebecca said softly, her eyes avoiding looking at the text, and much of anything for that matter, as her hand ran across the spines of the books. She wasn't even sure why she was behaving the way she was; her mother had explained that when someone saves your life, you innately feel indebted to them, and Euan had...Rebecca hated the feeling of owing him something, but she supposed that was what it was. Not knowing how to thank him enough was what was driving her out of her mind.

He was in the house of a woman who he had saved during the earthquake and that was not the problem at all. The problem was that things had changed immediately between them at some indeterminate time before that ... and he was trying his best to remain professional about things. The dinner had been really awkward, but the fact was that he hadn't actually wanted to leave.

They needed to get things resolved so that they could start working together smoothly. He smiled faintly and nodded, trying very hard to pay attention to the titles and say something smartassed about them.

All that came out, however, was, "Seems like a waste of time to me."

Rebecca bristled immediately; oh, good, it would be easier to be annoyed with him than this awkward state she was currently in.

"They've been passed down through three generations of Corners," she responded, pulling her hand off the last of the books to plant it against her side, "When I finish my internship, I'm to inherit them."

The thought did excite her, but seeing as Euan thought they were 'a waste of time' she chose to keep her feelings to herself. She stepped away from the wall of books and moved over to the large globe nearby. Her hand pressed gently onto the United Kingdom and Rebecca spun it slowly, finally forcing herself to look up at Euan,

"You could always say you were called in for an emergency, you know," she said, her ears heating up. Rebecca always wished they didn't, they were big enough already and didn't need the attention-- "You don't actually have to stay."

Oh, she was pissy at him already. "Well, I'd meant more if he was paying exorbitant amounts for them when browsing one of the used bookstores in Diagon would yield more productive results." When she suggested that he say he was called in for an emergency, though...

"Ah, are you really that eager for me to leave?" He managed to plaster a slightly awkward smile on his face and scrubbed furiously at the back of his neck -- it always got itchy when he was nervous -- as he looked over to Rebecca.

She really was quite pretty, despite the slightly elephantine quality of her ears....

"No, I'm not---" Her entire face flushed as she realized her wording. She didn't necessarily want him to leave, but she wasn't desperate for him to stay? Rebecca fidgeted, hating how she wasn't able to handle herself with the grace she was born with. "I just...I was assuming, I'm sorry, I shouldn't---assume."

But what, then? Did he want a tour of the rest of her home? Did he find that interesting? Or did he just not have anything better to do? Rebecca's hands went behind her back, a nervous tic she forced upon herself to keep her skittish hands from being seen. Oy, she'd probably chipped off all her nail polish by now.

"Do you...want to stay?" Rebecca didn't know why she felt the need to ask, but the silence was killing her.

"I'll be entirely honest and say that I did in fact block out the entire evening in case your parents were ... well, the way that most people's parents are, so I don't have much else to do." He spent so much time absorbed in his work that he didn't have much of a social life to speak of otherwise.

Unless Giada or one of the other Ravenclaws from his year dragged him out, of course, but that didn't happen often.

And for some godawful reason he really did want to stay. Something about Rebecca had started to fascinate him (maybe he just wanted to fix whatever it was that he perceived to be wrong with her mentally, but still). "As long as you aren't trying to give me the bum's rush."

She couldn't help but laugh, and glad now that she wasn't appearing rude, Rebecca stepped forward again, coming closer to Euan. The distance she had created now felt awkward, so closing it would...she felt nervous again. Oh, this was a bad idea. Rebecca kept her chin low, feeling as if she was speaking to a superior (well, she supposed she was--), "I'm sorry I'm behaving so oddly, it's...hard to explain, but I'll try..."

Taking in a deep breath, Rebecca looked up and smiled, honestly, and she felt better already, "You saved my life and I don't know how to thank you for it. I know that we've--shortly discussed it, through the journals, but I'm really at a loss as to how show I've completely given you my thanks. So excuse me if I'm...unsure of how to behave."

Ooh, that did make her feel better. She didn't seem simply like a fumbling idiot, now.

Suddenly she was stepping closer to him and he pushed down the part of his mind that mocked him mercilessly for not having been in this position with a girl in some time. It wasn't as if he had much of a reason to go after girls...

Back to the moment, though. Euan looked toward her with a raised brow when she spoke and then happened to give a soft laugh, shaking his head as he did so.

"You don't -- have to show me anything. I mean, not that I'm--" Oh, Merlin. "What I mean is that it's completely natural to feel thankful, but I didn't do anything that any other healer wouldn't have done in the same situation."

"Yes--of course."

Rebecca couldn't understand why his answer bothered her like it had; she had been relaying the same statement to her parents since they'd suggested the dinner. It wasn't as if she would have left him if the positions had been reversed, so they shouldn't fuss---but now. Rebecca's shoulders fell as if she'd been hopeful, and was now disappointed. Disappointed! How could she be disappointed in his response? What had she been expecting?

'Oh, my dear Rebecca, of course I could never have let more harm come to you!'

What? Rebecca straightened and let out a breath, looking down at the floor. She shouldn't be having those thoughts, there was no reason to be having those ridiculous thoughts, "Would you like to see the garden, then?" she asked, almost sheepishly.

Rebecca could at least rest assured that she wasn't the only one with ridiculous thoughts right now. Oh, he knew exactly how to read that sort of shoulder-slump - he'd certainly worn it a time or two during the time right before the Christmas ball at Hogwarts, after all - and it only made him more confused.

Right, well, he'd best correct things as soon as possible then. He paused, taking another step forward so that they were awkwardly close before -- well, before grabbing her by the shoulders and drawing her in for an insistent kiss that lasted only a second or two before he pulled back.

Now what?

She gasped as if she'd just heard that Hogwarts had been destroyed. Rebecca's eyes went as wide as the dinner plates they'd just eaten off of, and she gaped up at Euan. Rebecca Corner did not gape, but this man had her staring up at him like he was some mythical creature that had just appeared right before her eyes.

He had kissed her! Euan had---oh, when had she stopped referring to him as Healer Pamplemoss? Probably around the same time she'd been feeling awkward around him, and not being able to look him in the eye.

Oh, hell. She fancied him! She fancied Euan Pamplemoss for God knows what reason!

"Kiss me again," she let out, looking almost terrified that she'd said it, but her eager hands grasping at his shirt betrayed her expression.

For a fleeting moment he was sure that she was going to smack him rather hard and then start screaming that he had tried to molest her until her father came in here and beat him with the nearest antique book. Then she clutched his shirt like - well, like she'd done when she was pretty sure she was going to die - and he banished that thought from his mind.

"...er, all right then." Now that he was a little more focused on the so-called task at hand, he brought his fingers up to caress the side of her face before he leaned in and kissed her again.

Hopefully neither of her parents would take this time to check up on them.

This was exciting. 'Exciting' was not a word that she'd ever thought she'd use when in the presence of Euan Pamplemoss, but all the nerves she had just moments ago were gone as she clung to Euan. She was! She was snogging her healer mentor! He was snogging his intern! In her parents' house! Oh, this was so very wrong on so many levels, and each one that rushed through her mind just upped the excitement level. Rebecca hadn't felt this kind of thrill in ages.

But standing this way was awkward, and Rebecca pulled on him (where she'd learned to be so bold, she had no idea), twisting until her back pressed against the bookshelves. Oh, she'd never be able to come into this room again.

Oh, she'd be able to come in this room again.

If Rebecca wanted to take charge for this bit of things Euan wasn't going to give her a hard time about it -- he wasn't terribly ... experienced with snogging in the libraries of people's parents who he was tutoring and -- Merlin, this was going to cause so many issues at work.

When she pulled him close, though, and he pressed a hand to the books next to Rebecca's head to steady himself, most of those thoughts fluttered pleasantly out of his head. He leaned in again and caught her lips a little more firmly this time, mentally trying to concentrate on some sort of locking charm. He wasn't much for wandless magic (especially when he was so ... wound up) but he could try, damnit!

Rebecca Corner did not do things like this. She never snogged a boy that wasn't her boyfriend, and she would never snog them in a library, where people could walk in on them! Where her parents could walk in on them! Oh God! Her father would! Her uncle would---

Ohhh, but how could she stop kissing him now when it felt so good?

Oh, she was such a bleeding tart for thinking that!

Beyond sensible enough thinking, she let out a pleased sort of sound into his mouth, only to knock her head into his at the sound of a crying, nearby baby. Rebecca jolted back into the bookshelves, causing one of the smaller texts to fall to the floor.

"I--!" she let out, skittering to the side as the door of the library opened. Rebecca dropped down to the floor to pick up the book, and smiled widely (probably far too widely) as her family entered the room. "Oh, look how precious!" Rebecca said, jolting to her feet and over to the baby. She peered over her shoulder at Euan with a strange expression, but it changed into a shy smile as she tucked her hair behind her ears.

Euan didn't deal so well with familial stress. Work-related stress that he could cope with was just fine, but the fact was that he had some rather obvious indications that they had been doing something other than looking at books ... so when Rebecca dropped down to her knees to pick up the book he did the same and ended up holding the book that he'd knocked over in front of him as nonchalantly as possible.

Merlin, snogging for a few minutes should not have done -- that -- so very quickly. He forced a smile to her family and managed, a bit dumbly, "Are the baby's motor skills up to par? I hear it's very important at this age."