Interlude 3, The Woman of His Dream
February 12th 2008
Teddy was just finishing his last paperwork for the co-joint mission with MAEN (Magical Alliance of European Nations) in Rome. He with a group of his aurors were going on a little sightseeing before going home through the international floo network.
Teddy found a great restaurant for dinner with marvelous review that he was dying to try. After main course, they enjoyed their dessert and started talking and laughing until they come onto the topic of Valentine’s Day.
“So, it’s almost Valentine and I have a question for you, sir…”
“Enough with the ‘sir’, Maverick, “ he waved off. “We’re off the clock right now.”
“Mm, okay sir… I mean Lupin, “ the woman blushed. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
The others laughter could be heard from around the table where they dined. Garcia, one of his auror barked, “ You know well how much our supervisor is married to his job, Linda. His lady love is paperwork and missions.”
The whole table were filled with laughters. The metamormagus felt his cheek reddened by the second. It’s been three years since he last dated. Of course until two Chistmases ago, it was still true that he was married to his work.
And surely that’s when his memory supplied him with a certain pretty red-headed with short curly hair. In his imagination, she was wearing a pair of blue jeans that plastered to her thighs and a black V-neck behind a brown leather jacket. She looked so beautiful, Teddy could almost pictured her being here in the restaurant standing not too far away from him in front of the cashier with a familiar sandy blonde-haired man.
Wait, he knew the man who was holding doggy bags next to her. That’s Clint, his foodie mate. After being introduced to Natasha, he tried to subtly find out about her. Subtlety by using JARVIS, who informed him that she’s mostly on reckon mission and milk-run right now with Clint and Phil Coulson (Teddy barely knew the guy, but they knew each other from the holiday meetings when he could make it) as their handler.
The gears in his head started to turned around. She’s really here. Clint being here was enough of a proof that they really were here. The man could not say no to good food same as him. They probably read the same review on this restaurant.
Teddy was torn between approaching her or not. On the other hand, he still remember the last few times they met, not that they met quite a lot with their busy schedule. They have met 5 times in total for birthday and holiday dinners since that first Christmas.
All those meetings always ended with him being jittery and barfing all kinds of weird thing and finally ending with him being tongue-tied. It was always embarrassing and Natalia (he always called her that in his head) would always looked amusingly at him.
The last time they met was the worst but also the most hopeful.
New Year’s Eve 2007
As usual, Teddy put his foot down on not working on Christmas but New Year’s eve was up for his grab. But Tony suddenly showed up in his office at MACUSA. Of course people only saw him as Anthony Orion Potter, courtesy of his magic wristwatch that worked as well as the ring lent to him by Harry when he’s at Ilvermony.
He was dragged by his best mate to the party at his home, where he met Natalia yet again.
“Oh, you’re here already Nathashalie, “ Tony stole glances at Teddy knowingly. “Did you see Pepper?”
“I saw her in the kitchen with your mom, Antoshka, “ she informed him, a flute of champagne in her hand and while her free arm rested under her breast. She worn a classic black sleeveless dress that fit her body nicely.
Tony scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Stop calling me that. It’s Tony.”
She just smiled serenely.
Then his best friend shook his head and wandered around to find his girlfriend. Teddy was happy when Tony and Pepper finally got together. The look they’ve given each other has started getting on his nerves. It was ridiculous.
“How are you, Teddy?”
Teddy felt his heart started racing up when the owner of that beauty silky voice talked to him. He took a gulp of air before sputtering, “ Fine. How wouldn’t I be fine? Always fine. Very fine. I felt fine. How, how are you?”
Her lips twitched a little before she hid them by taking a sip of his champagne. “I’m fine. Work has been keeping me busy.”
“Yeah, me too. Been busy like busy bee. Busy, busy like a bee,” he laughed awkwardly.
“It’s been a while since we saw each other,” Natalia ignored his nervousness. “Was it last Thanksgiving?”
“Yes. The turkey was nice. We had a very wonderful dinner,” he trailed off. “Whe… Where were you on last Christmas?”
When the question came out, Teddy could feel his face heating up. It was rare for him to be so forward in his approach in conversation, especially in front of Natalia. It’s just that he was quite disappointed when uncle James came alone on Christmas.
“It’s classified,” she said solemnly.
“Oh, yes. Your work. With SHIELD, right?” He asked. “Missions, missions, missions. Me too. It’s all hush-hush if you know what I mean.”
She just smiled when he started spouting nonsense uncontrollably. Overall, the wizard spent the whole night making a fool of himself. It was five minute to New Year when he swore to keep his mouth closed and hid behind the bar counters from embarrassing himself further. But not before the woman of his dream cornered him behind the bar.
“Hello, kind sir. Could you pour me some more of that delightful champagne?”
Her smile was so enticing as she took a seat across from him in the bar, away from the crowd. Afraid of saying anything wrong, he smiled and pour the alcoholic beverage into her flute. She thanked him before sipping her drink.
As she played with her flute, she talked to fill in the quietness. “I’ve met a lot of people in my life. Most of them died in my hands. Even when I’m working with SHIELD, I still need to use my hands to take a life. I want to be good, but it’s not easy.”
“You felt remorse,” he wiped the counter just to do something with his hand. “Only a good person felt that. And the world is not exactly black and white. People like us walked in the grey line. Sometimes we have to dirty our hands and take a risk to save many by sacrificing a few. It’s just life.”
For the first time in the night, he looked at her without feeling like a wrecked ship in a stormy night. She curled up a small thankful smile.
“I met this man a year ago in Christmas,” she put her flute down and put her free hand under her chin. “He wasn’t like anyone I’ve ever met before.”
Teddy felt himself blushing so hard he could melt on the floor.
“He’s a simple man at first sight, yet he surprised me by making me laughed,” Natalia uttered gently. “He could be anything that he wanted to be, yet he chose to serve the law. A genuine good man and a realist at that.”
“I… Mm, you’re… Mm… “ tongue tied as always got to him.
The countdown started behind them at the same time the ex-spy walked around the bar to meet him. She slowly leaned over him. Teddy couldn’t help but smell her alluring perfume.
Their face were so closed to each other, he could feel her breath on his skin. She slid her hand to take the bottle of champagne. “My flute is empty.”
“Oh.”
As much as it was cliché, he felt he could stare into those pair of green eyes forever. They were mesmerizing.
Then she gave him a peck on the lips when the countdown was over.Teddy felt his heart stopped when her lips met his and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing back until he realized what he had done and he apparated away in shock.
Though, as a gentleman, embarrassing as it was, he apparated back a minute after. Nobody noticed he had even disappeared. Nobody except, Natalia and uncle James, who looked like he could threw an ‘Avada Kedavra’ with his eyes from across the room.
He smiled sheepishly at her. “Sorry. You surprised me.”
“Good surprise?”
She chuckled quietly. Teddy guessed his hair changed into an embarrassing color yet again.
“You’re a wonder, Teddy Lupin.”
“Good wonder?” He couldn’t help but asked.
“We’ll see,” she smiled again as she stood back and turned away from the counter to join her dad.
After the party, Teddy was getting ready for bed when uncle James appeared out of nowhere in his bedroom. He was just sitting down on the armchair in his room, glaring with a serious look on his face.
Teddy, who still had his wand in his grip managed to calm his heart down. “Uncle James, you scared me.”
“She is my daughter, the most precious person in my life,” James said quietly, cutting him off. “She didn’t have the best childhood and I want her to have a lot of happiness in the future.”
“And if she chose you, then I felt relieved,” his gaze softened a bit. “I know you for a long time and you’re a good man, Teddy. I’m glad I could entrust my daughter to you.”
“Um, thank you. I…it’s amazing, but…,” he spluttered. “But I thought you didn’t like me having feelings for her.”
The older man frowned and looked rather sour. “It’s not like I don’t like the thought of you two together. Put yourself in my position, boy. I’ve just got my daughter back and then I saw the way she looked at you. I felt insecure.”
“What do you mean ‘the way she looked at me’? And insecure? Why were you insecure?” He gave uncle James a puzzled look.
“I was afraid that you’re going to steal her, alright?” He answered grudgingly. “It’s every father’s worst nightmare. And the way she looked at you like you were a marvel. You made her laughed and that was the first time I’ve ever seen her laughed.”
“Oh,” his face reddened. “That didn’t mean she likes me or anything.”
Uncle James snorted. “Subtlety is Natalia’s speciality. But every time she came to our small gatherings, her eyes always stray away towards a certain missing someone. Every time she spotted you, she seemed to lighten up. She was subtle but a father just knows.”
“She likes me,” Teddy whispered to himself with a smile.
“And if you hurt her, badut (Indonesian) just remember, I was the winter soldier,” uncle James gave him a blank look with murderous intense gaze.
The auror has faced many dark wizards in his career, but even he knew magic wasn’t enough to safe him from uncle James’ wrath.
“I gave Natalia the same warning.”
“Why?”
He looked at him as if Teddy was stupid. “Because I care about you. So if either of you hurt the other, you will have to face me. Daughter or not, I will be very angry if he break your heart, błazen (polish).”
He was touched by James’ words, but since that time, he has been bombarded with works and had no time to meet with his friends. This would be a good time as ever to let say ‘let the cat out of the bag’.
Before the decision was made whether to approach her now or not, he felt a shadow intruding his space.
“Teddy,” Natalia’s voice caught him off guard. “What a pleasant surprise.”
The auror stood immediately and accidentally toppled his chair over. He put it back up, smoothed his hair and greeted her nervously. “H, hi. It’s a surprise. A good surprise. Very good one. Hi Na… Ms. Romanoff.”
“Natalia,” she squeezed his arm lightly.
“Yes, Natalia. This is a surprise. I didn’t know you were in town. Well not that I should have known or something,” he couldn’t stop talking. “And I was in town as well. So it’s a coincidence. And somehow we met in the same restaurant at the same day and time. What a coincidence. Excellent coincidence.”
Her giggles softly ran through his ears, tickling them nicely. “Yes. It’s a wonderful coincidence.”
“Did you just giggle, Nat? Oh my God, who … Teddy? ‘S that you?” Clint’s coming from behind Natalia.
“Hi Clint,” he greeted him sheepishly.
“Wait, how did you know each other?” The archer asked with a perplexed look on his face.
“I met him in Antoshka’s office,” she lied smoothly.
“Oh yeah, I forgot you’re friends with his girlfriend,” Clint said with a frown on his face before he suddenly had a ‘lightbulb’ moment. “Wait is he the guy… ,” then he suddenly yelped in pain from Natalia stepping on his foot. “I’ll wait outside.”
After the man stepped out of the restaurant, Natalia cocked her head to the side. “What are you going to do two days from now?”
“I… I think I’m free,” he answered shyly, knowing where this was going. “Just going to do some paper works. No field work for the next couple of weeks.”
“Then, I’ll pick you up from work at 6,” she gave him a small smile before turning around to walk away.
“Wait, how did you know where I work?” Teddy asked her in confusion.
She turned her head around a little and winked. “I have my way.”
When she was out of sight, Teddy fell onto his chair looking dazed. And then, he was bombarded with questions by his subordinates but all he could think of was he had a date with the woman of his dream on Valentine’s Day.
He could just die happily right now.
***