We Didn't Star the Fire

There was something calming about a warm summer night. Snug in their quaint little room, Kasper had never thought he'd be so content as he was every moment he spent with his wife. Even when its been almost a year since this had occurred, he couldn't get over that magical phrase.

His wife.

Any time he got to spend with her was a blessing, but somehow there was nothing so magical as at night, when there was the soft sounds of a hushed world, and she was asleep there beside him. Sometimes Kas would lose hours of his night, just sitting there watching her. Who needed sleep, air or anything else when he had the woman he loved.

On this night, he had spent the last few hours doing just that. Watching her level breathing, the cute little faces she made without even noticing. Leaning over her brushed her lips with a quick kiss before he snuggles closer, and was finally closing his eyes to rest when he first smelled it.

As a potions master, Kasper was rather use to the smell of smoke of all varieties. However, in this situation he was surprised to smell such things. Sitting up he frowned and looked about the room. There was no sign any flames. If it was actually worrisome Kasper should have been able to feel the heat, or at least see the smoke in such a small building as their cottage.

He must have just been imagining it, have had it burned into his nose from so many days spent in Durmstrang's dungeons with questionable potions makers.

With one more hesitant look around the room, he put his head back down and fell into light and restless sleep.

Content.

That was it. Lex simply had no other way to describe how she had felt over the past year. He was hers, she was his. She'd be hard pressed to think of a time when she'd ever been happier than she was now. In fact, the woman had never thought it possible to withhold such love in her little, frail human heart. And that love was just for Kas. Her fingertips unconsciously moved to her stomach, gently tracing the skin there, and an involuntary smile curved her lips.

She was about to have another person to love. Possibly even more- after all, they do say that nothing's stronger than a mother's love, don't they? But Lex could not, for the life of her, wrap her head around that concept. Loving something more than she did Kas? Incomprehensible. She was still digesting the thought of a baby- the very information itself. 7 pregnancy tests- all positive. All taken in secret, of course. Lex bit her lip in her state of half-sleep, and her toes curled excitedly under the sheets. Surprise him. First thing in the morning. First thing in the morning, she would-

Lex train of thought jolted to a stop. Her brow creased into frown as she felt a certain body stir next to hers- although it instantly smoothed at the light, brief feeling of his lips on hers.

"Where are you going?" She grumbled, eyes still closed, and a sleepy smile on her face. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"I'm cold." She lied, snuggling into him. In reality, the house was growing ever so slightly warmer.

He couldn't ignore it any longer. A frown had grown deeper and deeper on his sleeping face as the temperature continued to grow in the small house. The smell of smoke was still catching him.

He moved to get up, to actually get out of bed and check this time, but Lex had him in her grip, pulling him back into the intoxicating place of her arms. He was lulled for a moment, almost willing to stay until the heat got to him again and there was a growing noise. A crackling of sorts that he could not miss.

"We gotta get up," he said quietly, trying not to alarm her, while feeling slight growing in his own alarm. He had noticed something dark, billowing from under the crack in the door, "Baby, we gotta go. Now."

"Why?" Lex's lips pulled into a pout as she squirmed in their bed, still completely oblivious to the growing amount of smoke that clouded the room. She frowned at his sudden change in tone, and her stomach twisted uneasily. Her eyes fluttered open, still a little glazed- only to feel them sting in the smoky air of the room.

"Kas?" She unwound her arms from his neck, sitting up groggily and leaned onto her elbows. Her eyes squinted in the dark, trying to make out the outline of his features. "Kas-What is it?" She brought the base of wrist to her eye, trying to rub away the sleep. Had someone broken into the cottage? Why did he look so-

A bright, amber flame licked at the base of their bedroom door- illuminating their room with a little bit of light.

Lex sat up instantly, holding the sheets to her chest. "Kas?"

He adored everything about her. The cute way she was so easily distracted, slightly oblivious to what was around her, was always endearing. However in this moment, it was also causing them to lose even more time. The smoke was already at a level in the room that it was annoying his lungs, and she was still asking what was wrong.

"Shh," he stated as she finally looked at the flame adding more light to their dark room. "It's going to be fine, but we really need to go. So, if we both just get up," he stated his eyes never wavering on the danger that was filling their house, "We'll grab anything important and just go."

He finally took a moment to look at her, raising his eyebrow and nodding, "Right?"

"Get up." Lex echoed, nodding her head numbly, her sleepy mind still having trouble digesting the information. The fire was eating away at the exit of their bedroom. They were trapped. She didn't want to have to fight her way through the fire. They would both- how- what were they meant to do?

"Right." She nodded again, this time more decisively, before clumsily getting out of the bed as fast as she could, her hand clutched onto her husband's. Keep Kas safe.

Keep the baby safe.

Lex tugged him along with her into the center of the room, trying to remain as collected as possible. They could do this together. They could- it was just so hard to remain calm when the constant noise of fire crackled on the other side of the door. A few inches of wood. Just a few inches. And it was getting darker- smokier.

"We need...need-" Her bright blue gaze snapped towards the door, eyeing it warily. "Box." She breathed, dropping his hands suddenly. Her box. Of course, her box of trinkets- her safebox, she needed her safebox. The woman darted across the room, pulling out drawers wildly from their chests. Which drawer? Which one? Had she put it in the cupboard downstairs?

"Box, box, box." She muttered frantically, panic written all over her features.

There. Purple, small, resting in the back corner of the bottom shelf. A collection of everything. Pictures of her family; or, at least, the family she used to have- pictures of Kas, of course. Her napkin from their first date, a daisy chain she'd crafted for him at some point, trinkets and random bits of rubbish that were seemingly meaningless. Bits of rubbish that were completely and entirely her world.

"Got it." Lex mumbled, clinging the thing to her chest and turning around to look at him. "What do we do now?"

She didn't want to burn.