Frida sighed as she made her way to the window, slightly concerned, and almost expecting what might be coming. 'Probably ditching me...' She told herself, rather harshly. 'Although-' Frida turned around in the corridor, wondering if she should just turn around right now because of how scared she was.
'No.' She started to walk farther down the hallway until she finally saw a figure standing in front of a large window. 'Here goes.'
"Hey." Frida said quietly as she came to stand next to Malachi, making sure to keep a smile on her face. But something really wasn't right, "You okay?" 'Oh dear.' Perhaps she was right, maybe she should have turned around. Malachi looked pretty...horrible.

When he saw her, Malachi wanted to hug her and not let go but, and not for the first time, he was paralysed by how pretty she was. Thoughts of the gorgons flashed through his head for some inexplicable reason and he blinked rapidly. "H-hi." He said hoarsely. "How-how are you? Are you okay?"

Drowning man, level eight. Someone throw me a life belt, He thought wildly, realising that he didn't even have any flowers for her. He drew his wand and murmured Orchideous producing a posy of forget-me-nots. He held the out to her, an attempt at a smile which could easily have been confused with toothache spreading over his lips.

Frida blinked back at him, not knowing exactly how she was at this moment, "I'm...okay." She noticed that Malachi hadn't answered her question of how he was doing. Though he didn't seem to be doing very well.

"Mal-" Frida was cut off when Malachi held a bunch of flowers out for her. She bit her lower lip, smiling a bit and blushing rather furiously. "How did you...?" Frida started to say once she realized what type of flowers he had given her; they were one of her favorite kinds. "I-I got your message." 'Way to point out the obvious.'

Malachi nodded. "Good.That's good." He brushed his hand through his hair, making it stand up at alarming angles. "That you're okay, I mean. That's good."

Okay, so she hates the flowers, not a good start... Malachi thought desperately. He ran his hand through his hair again and then realised that he had done it, his hair now looking as though he'd had a nasty encounter with a van de graaff generator. He attempted to flatten it down. "We had a meeting, with our new department head, and I realised something..." and as he said that, he also realised that if she wasn't ready to hear it, he would lose her for good. The words dried up in his mouth and he couldn't think of anything to say. Oh good Merlin what have I done?!?!?!

Frida nodded, not entirely comforted with how Malachi was behaving. "Mhm. And you?" She was convinced that something was really bothering him. Just what that something was she couldn't say.

"Malachi..." She reached out and attempted to flatten the man's hair at least a little bit. He seemed to be needing all the help he could get. But Frida paused when she had been reaching out towards Malachi's head. "Realized something?" 'Oh dear. I knew it wasn't good.' Frida thought with a sickening feeling in her stomach, and started to feel her eyes water. She held onto the flowers with a surprisingly strong grip.
'I guess I should have expected this...'

Malachi just nodded. In truth, he felt a little bit dizzy.

He snapped to his senses when Frida paused in her attempt to rescue his hair. "Oh! Nothing bad!" Malachi cupped her palm to his cheek with his hand. "Really, it's only bad if you don't... agree." He moved his head a little, kissing her palm. "I should have done this somewhere else, somewhere better." He knew then that he would have to do things properly, with candles and all those other things that women seemed to feel were important. He was stalling for time now, still not wanting to actually say what he had to say for fear of her running a mile. Instead, he just stood there, holding her hand.

'So it...it wasn't...bad?' Frida stood motionless as Malachi moved her hand. Now she was completely unable to say anything, not while she could feel a couple stray tears break off and slide down her cheek anyway.
Frida sniffed, and dabbed her face dry with a sleeve of her robes. "It's not bad?" She repeated, not quite sure why she was not able to believe him right away. "Promise?"

She choked out a little laugh, "No, no, it's just fine here." Frida forgot for a moment that she was holding a bunch of flowers in her hand, but caught herself as they started to face downwards. "Never knew this place existed actually." Frida sniffed once more before her face had become almost completely dry again.

Malachi was horror-struck when he saw that she was crying. "No, Frida, please don't cry. It's really not bad. I promise. Cross my heart and stick a needle... in it?" he asked, having only half remembered what the muggle saying was.

He took a deep breath. "Gina asked us to tell her two truths and a lie, as a sort of getting to know you game. I said that I was in love and I realised that it was the most truthful thing I've probably ever said." He pulled her closer, daring to wrap his arm around her waist. "I love you Frida, and I have for a really long time."

And this is the moment where she freaks out. He told himself. It was good while it lasted.

Frida started laughing a little bit, "No it's...um." Her grandmother said this still, "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Gosh, that was rather graphic wasn't it? Well, in any case, it wasn't something that Frida wanted to think about. 'As long as he promised it wasn't anything bad...I should take his word for it.'

'Huh?' The next thing Frida knew, Malachi was talking about some sort of game...and who was Gina?
Caught up in her own thoughts, Frida hadn't really heard much more about that stupid game Malachi was talking about. She came-to again once he started to sort of hug her though. 'Wait...what?!'

There it went. The waterworks had started again. A lot more this time, though, thankfully, Frida wasn't loud at all when she cried. She dropped her flowers to the ground and wrapped her arms around Malachi's neck, hugging him tightly, trying to say something back that wasn't easily understood because her face was buried in Malachi's right shoulder.

Stick a needle in my eye? What sort of idiot vows to stick needles in their eyes? Malachi asked himself, before realising that it wasn't really important.

Malachi had watched the confusion flicker in Frida's eyes as he was speaking, but he'd ploughed on anyway. But when she threw her arms around his neck, he really was surprised. Woah... "Um, I didn't really hear you." He said quietly, stroking her hair, waiting for her to stop crying. He rubbed her back a little bit. "Either this is the wettest, strangest rejection I've ever had or you don't mind?" He ventured hopefully, biting his lip.

Frida sniffed and backed away from Malachi a little bit, seeing how wet she had managed to get his shirt in only a matter of twenty to thirty seconds. Sniffing again, she tried to wipe his shoulder dry with her hand, as though she had forgotten about her ability to use a wand.
"Malachi..." She started to say and covered her face with her sleeves for a moment, enough time to dry her face. "I said-I said, I love you too." Frida's eyes started to water up again, blinding her temporarily.
So instead of standing there in the corridor, blind, and almost ready to tip over, Frida once again wrapped her arms around Malachi. She was shaking a little bit out of relief and shock at what had just happened. She had assumed that her life was about to end again.

Yep, he'd been right. He waited for her to be polite, because she was a polite sort of person. That was going to be hard to hear...

His mouth hung open, making him look like a rather baffled trout. "You... you love me too?" And then she was almost crying again, and hugging him. The fact that Frida loved him too settled over him, something seemed to swell in his chest, causing his heart to beat much faster. He lifted her off her feet and span them both in a circle, whoops of laughter ripping free of his throat. He set her down again and took a step away from her. "You really mean it? You're not going to change your mind?" He was suddenly worried, now that he knew she loved him back, losing her would be so much worse.

"Mhm." Frida said, hugging him even tighter, almost afraid to let go. It was a good thing she had, because the next thing she knew her feet weren't on the ground any more. She gave a tiny scream from being caught off-guard, but started to laugh soon after. Though Frida was happy when her feet were flat on the floor again.
Wait? Why did he back away? 'What kind of stupid question is that?' And she was certain that her face reflected her thoughts, "I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." She hugged Malachi again, and gave him a peck on the cheek before resting her head on the man's shoulder, "I won't change my mind...I promise".

Okay, so now Frida was looking at him in that way she did when he'd said something she thought was particularly dim, which for once he wasn't affronted by. He returned her hug tightly. "I know you wouldn't, it's just, well, I can't believe my luck." Malachi wanted to kiss her properly but they were at work and they both had postions of responsibility. His rational mind told him that he was probably being far too reckless, that he should be setting an example and lots of other things he chose not to listen to at that moment. Instead, as a sort of compromise with his new-found sense of responsibility, he kissed Frida's temple. "I know I should have waited and, y'know, taken you to dinner or something but I couldn't risk you finding out from someone else. That would have been... not good." Behind Frida's back Malachi looked at his watch. "Oh Merlin, I said ten minutes!" Panic spread through his chest now, but he didn't release his grip on Frida.

Frida chuckled a little bit and said, "It has nothing to do with luck, Malachi." Just before he kissed her. She was pretty sure that whatever Malachi was thinking right now wasn't what he was most happy with.
An enormous smile appeared on her face, "Oh, that's...that's okay." She swished some of her long hair behind her shoulders, "I don't need you to take me anywhere thinking it would mean more to me. That would be impossible." Frida smoothed some of Malachi's hair finally, "I'm just glad to hear it from you...that means an awful lot." Her cheeks were still a little red, but the shade looked fairly pleasant.
Frida released her grip on Malachi, laughing to herself, "Mal, go on!" It sounded almost like she were shooing him away, but happily so. She placed one of her hands on each side of his face and said, "I'll see you later, don't worry. Work doesn't last forever."

"I'm afraid that I'll have to argue with you there, it has everything to do with luck. All mine." Malachi lifted her off her feet again, but only for a moment. "I really do love you." He murmured it this time, enjoying saying it to her.

He glanced up at the window and realised that the view looked a little bit like Castle Hill, where he had taken Frida earlier in the summer. "Oh, I don't know about that, I can think of a few places." A crooked grin spread over his face and he laughed a little bit, remembering that day, the first day that she had kissed him.

'Merlin, you're too pretty for me' Malachi thought as she tried to shoo him off to work, her face all pink. He interlaced his fingers with hers, "Well, come in the lift with me. Since you have to go that way anyway." He gave her a silly grin before setting off towards the lift, not allowing her to argue.

'Eeep!' Frida had opened her mouth to say a few more things concerning the matter, but Malachi had given her no time to respond. She giggled a little bit and said, "I love you too." It wouldn't be that much of a problem, letting him believe certain things were based on luck when they really weren't.

"Right, well..." Frida sighed a little bit, thinking that the look on Malachi's face was rather precious. "Keep those in mind, we'll visit them later." She gave Malachi another brief peck on the cheek.

"Mala-" Frida was cut off when she was pulled off down the corridor. Acting like she had meant to come along the entire time, she moved up until she was right in line with Malachi's shoulders. Frida gave her wand a flick, summoning the nearly forgotten forget-me-nots from the ground and held on to them again. She would mend every little stem and petal once she got back to the office, but right now, making sure they looked somewhat presentable was good enough.
Frida chuckled a little bit and said, "Thank you for the flowers, Malachi. They're one of my favorite kinds." She looked down at the little bouquet and smiled, "How did you know I liked forget-me-nots?" That was what Frida had meant to ask before, but never got it all out.

Malachi looked back, he hadn't even noticed that Frida had dropped her flowers. They looked a little bent in places, but that didn't really matter, not to him at least. "Like I told you, I'm lucky." He grinned slightly smugly. "I just thought of the prettiest flowers that I could, which is odd because you give those to someone so they won't forget you, don't you?" He ran his hand over his face, surely that was why they were called that?

As they pulled level with the lifts, he stopped and wrapped his arm around her waist again. Responisibility could wait until he got back to level five.

Frida giggled, "Maybe. But that's all I'm going to say on the matter of luck." She wasn't a big believer in it actually. Frida raised the flowers up to just under her face, allowing the petals tickle her chin a tiny bit.
"Well, not necessarily." Frida said and gazed fondly at the delicate flowers, "From what I know, forget-me-nots were worn to show faithfulness and enduring love. I just think they're so romantic and sweet."

She stopped for the lift the same time as Malachi, and leaned on him a little bit when he put his arm around her. 'Pity there's still work to be done.'