Black as Night (Sirius Black)

Of What Will Be With You and Me

Chapter Title for "Run Around" by Blues Traveler
_____________

"Gilmore, you're on the Lawson case this week. Which means you'll need to plan to stay late. Can you get a babysitter?"

Colleen's stomach fluttered with excitement. The Lawson case was huge. Gordon Lawson was a well-known celebrity photographer accused of domestic abuse, but all credible reports pointed to him being a man of impeccable character. Even the couple's children had issued a statement in their father's defense. His soon-to-be-ex-wife seemed greatly troubled, with a history of run-ins with the law and drug abuse, but Colleen wasn't one to ever dismiss a woman's claims outright. A bitter custody battle was unfolding, growing increasingly more public by the day. Colleen's colleague Amy had scored the lead spot on Lawson's paralegal defense team. Colleen had been a bit envious but proud of her. She understood that Ben's nursery school hours limited her own availability for such high profile work. This latest reassignment was surprising.

"Isn't that Amy's case, Mr. Leonard?"

The office manager grimaced. "Miss Grimaldi will be on leave for a bit, Gilmore. Have you seen the news on the fires in Covent Garden?"

"No, sir. I didn't really have time to watch the news this weekend."

"A band of arsonists set fire to a whole city block. They are still trying to catch the perpetrators— apparently they were all dressed head to toe in black and appeared and disappeared rather quickly— almost like a blur. At any rate, Miss Grimaldi's home was destroyed, and she lost her sister, who was asleep on the upper floor, as well."

"Oh, no! That's so awful. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"There has been a public fund set up, of course, but the firm will be getting together items and has taken care of setting her up in one of our safe houses temporarily. She will need time off, of course, so I need you on Lawson. Can you get someone to watch Ben?"

Colleen nodded but she inwardly frowned. It would have to be Sirius. Both of the mums had made it quite clear they would not be regular babysitters,
since they held jobs of their own. Sirius would be overjoyed, of course. But Colleen had managed to keep herself in denial of his big reveal all day yesterday, and she had intended to use the work week as an excuse to avoid him for a bit and recapture the way things were— just her and Ben, her career, her quiet nights.

Sirius had started Sunday with a run while Colleen made Belgian waffles, which they had eaten in virtual silence. She'd then escaped to a yoga class before returning to pick up her things from Sirius's place and leave for her market run. She hadn't given him the chance to accompany her this time. The disappointment had been written all over Sirius's face, but she knew any discussion at this point was awkward for him as well. Deep down she knew they both wished Rhiannon had never walked through the door Saturday night. Ignorance was preferable to the truth, when the truth was as absurd and frightening as what Sirius was asking her to believe.

The list of strange catastrophes in the London news was mounting, and the dark clouds had returned to the air as Colleen made her way to work that morning. They hung like a black curtain bringing further heaviness to her already troubled mind. She couldn't shake the memory of the odd newspaper with its dark headlines, although she refused to believe there was a connection. It was preposterous. Things like the bridge attack, the dark clouds in the air, the fire that destroyed Amy Grimaldi's— those couldn't be the things Sirius and his friends were fighting in their "organization." Because if they were, what did that mean for her and Ben? How could they sign on to that kind of life? They weren't part of this world. They had no "magic" to protect them, if one could believe in such nonsense anyway. Sirius was asking too much of her. She didn't want to live that way. But she also knew she didn't want to live without him.