She dug her fingers into his eyes, Metatron's shouts of anguish filling her ears. And then he weakened, and started to fall. A few short moments later and he would fall all together into the abyss. A thought flashed into her mind. A split decision based solely on her love for Asriel. We don't have to die. Sensing her thoughts the golden monkey gripped Stelmaria, their eyes sharing that they knew what Marisa planned. Grabbing Asriel, she, the golden monkey and Stelmaria leapt off Metatron, landing in a heap away from the edge of the abyss. The angels fingers slipped from the edge of the abyss, and then he was gone. Marisa didn't have time to rest, Asriel was dying from his head injuries and she desperately needed to get him someplace safe. "What the bloody hell was that?" Asriel said roughly but he didn't have the strength to fight with her as she half dragged him out of the cavern. Outside it was snowing and the battle was still raging on. "There is the intention craft just over there," Lord Asriel pointed. She nodded and once they were there she sat in the pilots chair and shoved on the helmet, her daemon held onto the leather grip at the end of a cable and by her intentions, the craft rose above the frost covered ground and she carefully manoeuvred it back to Asriel's citadel, keeping as safe as possible and alert for any sign of enemy attack.

She hated seeing him like this. Stuck in a hospital bed, eating hospital food. The doctor said he needed lots of rest, after getting stitches on the right side of his hairline where there was a deep gash. Stelmaria was curled up at the end of the bed with the golden monkeys hands wrapped around her neck resting soundly. Marisa sat on the edge of the bed eyeing the cut. "Hospital food is nice," he said between mouthfuls of bacon and egg. "How are you feeling," Marisa asked rubbing his arm tenderly. "Weak, but better," Asriel said matter-of-factly. So much had happened, she felt rather lost with the dates. Lyra had saved the universe. Dust was saved. Asriel was saved. She was saved. She couldn't help but think Did Dust tell her to jump of Metatron with Asriel? She remembered someone telling her, it sounded distant but so close, Jump off now, there is no need to die. Metatron will be taken care of. Dust, conscious particles, angels that swirled the universe, connecting to man. But it was alright now. She was here with the one she loved. She kissed his forehead tenderly and looked at him, her blue eyes soft, her lips forming a small smile. "What is it?" Asriel asked her. "I'm just so…Happy, happy that you are here and well," Marisa said, she felt warm inside. She hadn't felt like this since her affair with Asriel 13 years ago, when she found out was love was, when he held her in his arms and her worries would be brushed away. He smiled back at her and said "So am I."

Lord Asriel was discharged from the hospital a week later, he grumbled under his breath at the annoyance of having to be stuck in a wheel chair because his muscles were still recovering and it was a pain to walk. Mrs Coulter barked at the staff to make sure he had an anbaric wheel chair. He wondered if it was so she didn't have to push him, or because she wanted to make it easier for him. A bit of both he would say. "Are you sure Marisa?" Lord Asriel asked, feeling small and weak in his chair compared to the tall, slender Marisa Coulter. "Yes, yes and besides they said that you'll need someone to look after you," Marisa said a smile creeping onto her lips. "So where will I sleep?" Lord Asriel asked raising an eyebrow. Marisa looked down at him and replied simply "Where do you think?"

She pulled her blonde curls into a hair tie to keep her hair out of her face as she cooked stir fry for her and Asriel. The sweet aroma of the rosemary lifted her mood and she poured the meat and vegetables onto two plates. "I haven't had stir fry in so long," Marisa said, taking small, delicate bites. Lord Asriel watched her trying not to laugh. "You eat like a bird," he commented. "Shut up," she said playfully and kicked him from underneath the table. "That's my sore leg," Asriel groaned. Her eyes widened in embarrassment. "Oh dear I'm sorry," she added softly. He waved the apology away and ate his dinner in a frantic frenzy. She frowned slightly and said "Where have your manners gone?" "This is the first time I've eaten real food in…a long time, and its good, really good" he said pleasantly enough.

He fell asleep almost instantly next to her. Damn it, I wanted to feel his arms around me, his body, his…She turned away from him trying to sleep but found her self kept awake by her erotic fantasies. Sooner he's recovered and gained his strength the better, or I might have to pounce on him myself.

4 weeks later

"Asriel what are you doing?" Mrs Coulter said peering through the study door. "Dust, I want to learn more about it, how it works, I should ask Lyra," he said rubbing his temples. "Dust? DUST! Dust is fixed, it's here, it's saved. It doesn't matter! And besides…Lyra wants nothing to do with us at the moment," she said walking into the room frowning at the papers and scientific instruments that flashed and jiggled. "But Marisa, I need to know about it, how it's conscious, how is that possible? I know a lot but I need to know more," Lord Asriel said adjusted the knobs on and pushing a lever on one of the bigger instruments. "Your obsession is sick, don't you love me?" Marisa asked kneeling next to him. He looked at her taken aback and then replied stroking her soft blonde hair "Of course I do, what makes you think I don't?" "You are impossible! Asriel, when are we going to have sex!" she yelled and stormed out of the room, sexually frustrated. It's not like he's confined to a bloody wheelchair anymore.

Lord Asriel sat there even more taken aback than before. Well I suppose it had been awhile, but really? That's why she has been acting funny recently? He lay down his papers and went in search to find her. He found her in the bathroom furiously scrubbing her hands and he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her neck gently. But she ignored him shoving him off, drying her hands. "Marisa, okay I'll forget about Dust," he said to her. Yea right. She said nothing but walked off. Why was she being so cold? He followed her once again, now desperate for her attention. Walking into the study he shouted "Marisa! NO!" and ran to try and save the rest of the papers she hadn't got to. She'd messed with the levers and knobs, and had thrown the majority of the papers into the fireplace. "You said you'd forget about Dust," Mrs Coulter said darkly. He grabbed her shoulders, pressing painfully down, her eye twitched slightly and then he said quietly "That took me a month…4 weeks of research, I had to do something while I was confined to that damn chair," "You lied to me, you said you'd forget about Dust," she said in an equal quiet tone but the anger in her voice was rising. His dark eyes bore into her own blue ones and he replied dangerously "I could hit you, I could pull at your hair, you wretched bitch. You don't know what you've done," Mrs Coulter gulped slightly, feeling slightly crushed Wretched bitch? That arsehole… She pushed him into a wall, her breath hot against his face "Not in my house Asriel," And she turned on her heel, pushing his instruments off the desk on her way out.

"What are you doing?" Mrs Coulter demanded. "Packing, I'm better now, so I'm moving back to my house," he replied avoiding her gaze whilst he struggled with the zipper on one of his bags . "You're just doing this because I ruined your Dust investigation," she said standing over him. He stood up, now towering over her. "Maybe, but you made it clear you don't want me here," Lord Asriel said carelessly. "You lied to me! If you hadn't then I wouldn't of destroyed your precious experiments and papers," she hissed at him. "Marisa you knew I was lying, you don't just go throwing my papers into the fireplace because I said I'd forget about Dust," Asriel said. Marisa stood there speechless and then Lord Asriel said triumphantly "Now admit you were wrong," "Excuse me? I don't think so!" Mrs Coulter said irritably. "Admit it! You were wrong Marisa! I was right! You were just upset because I was too busy to have sex with you" Asriel said smiling wickedly. "No," she said refusing to look at him, knowing he was right. "Is that all you got? Your not so clever after all," Lord Asriel said enjoying how uncomfortable he was making her. "Asriel, I don't want you to go," she said stepping closer to him, looking up at him with big wide eyes. "Stop trying to get out of this, you were wrong!" Lord Asriel said stepping away from her. "You are so immature, grow up," Mrs Coulter said, retrieving a book from her drawers and then sat on her bed, pretending to read it. Lord Asriel stood there, angrily watching her as she carelessly turned a page. No one had told him to 'grow up' since he was…since never. He grabbed the book from her hands and threw it across the room. "Asriel!" Mrs Coulter yelled, frowning. He crashed his mouth against hers and quickly undid her top and pulled off her skirt. "WAIT! ASRIEL, we need to talk!" Mrs Coulter exclaimed, grabbing his hands. Lord Asriel looked at her in disbelief, "You've practically been begging for sex for a month and you want to talk NOW," "Look we need to talk about us, is there a us? I was under the impression you loved me. Shouldn't we be living together?" Mrs Coulter said pulling her skirt back on and doing her blouse up. He rolled off her and sat next to her. "I can't just leave my house, its been in my family for years," Lord Asriel said. "Well then that's settled, I'll just move in with you," Marisa said brightly.

"Oh dear," Mrs Coulter said as she walked through the doors of Asriel's mansion. It hadn't changed one bit, she knew he never used to stay long, always away in the North. "What is it?" he asked her dragging in one of her suit cases. She had several suit cases, so many clothes he didn't understand it. "Who on earth decorated your house? We could move in some of my furniture. I mean this thing," Marisa said pointing at a painting of an old man with his mouth wide open. "Has to go, in fact everything has to go, the walls and floor are fine, but really, I mean look at this vase! I guess you could call it…unique somewhat," Marisa continued. "Okay wait, this was so much easier when we were having an affair and I was making love to up against a wall-" "Asriel" "Or in my bed-" "Asriel!" "Or when Coulter was away, in your bed- " "Please don't say that! And besides you don't care about the stuff in this house anyway," Marisa said examining the room more carefully. "I care about my mother's dinner set and her tea cups, and I do have some important artefacts that I keep here," he said. "And if you must, move in your furniture, but can we please get these bags up to our room, bloody hell Marisa," Lord Asriel said still trying to figure out why women had to possess so many clothes.

He watched her slink out of her silk dressing gown and climb into bed. Her eyes were fiery with passion, her hair and skin luminous in the moon light that had filtered through the window. He pulled Marisa on top of him. His strong hands pressed into her back, kissing her passionately his tongue exploring her sweet mouth. Marisa kissed his neck, her breasts pressing hard against his naked chest, she swore she was going to literally fall into him. Pushing her onto her back and moving his weight on top of her, his hands cupping her breasts, she then bit his bottom lip gently and captured his mouth fully with hers once again. He pinned her wrists to the bed, kissing along her collar bone and down to her full breasts. A gasp escaped her lips, Marisa was trembling from his touch. Memories of so long ago played into the back of her mind. She didn't think she could feel this good again.

"Asriel you're full of surprises," Marisa said teasingly whilst they ate French toast. "So are you my dear, that thing you do with your hands," Asriel said smiling. "Oh what I can do with my hands," Marisa said her fingers tapping his hand. "I'm going out today, I need some fresh air, do you want to come?" he asked her. "You go, I want to bake a cake, it's a special recipe from another world, its called…Paarv…Pav-lova. It's a New Zeee-land cake, we have a New Zeee-land don't we? Except we call it Neuseeland?" Marisa said taking out the recipe from her pocket. "Pavlova? Sounds Russian, what's it like?" Asriel asked her. "The outside is meringue which we already have in our world and inside it is the most strangest thing. Its spongy and sticky, they call it marshmallow, it looks like clouds. At first I thought they stole cloud from the sky to make it but no we have all the ingredients in our world to make it. It is so delicious, very sweet though," Marisa said, dialling a number on the telephone. "Yes, I need some groceries? Can you deliver them?? I need them as soon as possible…"

Lord Asriel came home at around 5 o'clock in the evening, he strolled into the kitchen and opened the oven door. The pavlova was sitting there, flat and uninteresting. He walked up the spiralling stairs and opened the bedroom door, Marisa was sleeping soundly, the golden monkey curled up in her arms. He kissed her head and went back downstairs to fetch something to eat. And then there was a knocking at the door. Swinging it open, Asriel blinked and said surprised "Ruta?" "Asriel," Ruta Skadi said seductively walking into the house, setting her cloud pine by the door. "You almost died, I had to know if you were okay," Ruta purred her, curly black hair swinging as she turned her head. She had the blackest eyes and was a witch-queen from the North. She pulled Asriel into a long lingering kiss, his hand on the small of her back, pulling her closer. "You know I could just drop off my clothes right here, right now," She said pressing up against Asriel. "Ah Ruta maybe not, you see- " Lord Asriel tried to say but was interrupted when Ruta said icily "It's that Coulter woman isn't it?" And before either of them could say anything else Mrs Coulter herself strode into the hall. "Ruta, whoring on my man? How classy of you, how 'bout you drop off out of here," Mrs Coulter said wrapping her arm around Asriel, staring down her nose at the witch. "I won‘t keep you from your beloved," Ruta said snottily and left in a huff. After the door close Mrs Coulter let go of Asriel and said "Why did you let her in the house," "I didn't! She invited herself in," Lord Asriel protested. "Aha, what if I hadn't come? Would you have made love to her up against a wall?" she said tears threatening to pour from her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," Lord Asriel said trying to hold her but she stepped back. "I saw her pressed up against you, and you did nothing to stop it! I saw how you looked at her!" Mrs Coulter screamed. "Marisa, you're jumping to conclusions- " "Am I? I don't think so! If I still had the power, I would have you tortured till I saw the life leave your eyes!" Mrs Coulter continued. "Marisa- " "And where did you go exactly when you went out for some "fresh air", did she follow you back here after you finished shagging her senseless at some hotel!" Asriel grabbed at her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, pulling her to his chest. "Let me go or so help me God!" Mrs Coulter screamed and managed to get one hand free and slapped him hard across the face. Lord Asriel pushed her roughly onto the ground, feeling insulted. "Get out!" he yelled. She didn't answer but scrambled into the kitchen.

He ran after her, why wouldn't she listen to him. Marisa was backed into the furthest corner her eyes tear dashed and angry. "You are overly jealous," Asriel said sneering. "Shut up!" she coughed. "You-you have a thing for-for witches, you-you like her," she cried out, trying to form sentences that made more sense. "Look we used to be lovers but not anymore," Lord Asriel said sighing. "I don't believe that, stop lying to me! You still are!" Marisa cried, her body trembling. "Do you want me to tell you that I did? That I did shag her in some hotel? Because Marisa that is a lie!" Lord Asriel said frustrated. "Then why did you kiss her!" Marisa screeched trying to keep herself upright. Lord Asriel looked down at the ground. He hadn't realized Marisa had seen that as well. In truth Ruta had kissed him and he automatically kissed her back. What was he thinking? He shouldn't of done that, he couldn't blame it on old habits. "And now you're silent because I caught you myself," Mrs Coulter hissed dangerously. "I didn't mean to, it just happened," And as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it, as it worsened Marisa's anger, it sounded so incredibly pathetic, he was rather embarrassed himself. She grabbed one of his mothers tea cups and threw it at Asriel's head, he ducked just in time. It smashed into a million pieces the colourful particles, sharp edged decorating the wooden floor. "Marisa…My mother will be turning in her grave," he said looking blank. "You pathetic prick, get out!" "You broke one of my mother's tea cups, do you know how much it is worth?" "You're upset over a bloody tea cup!" And then Marisa grabbed the dinner set, and Asriel lunged at her but it was too late. She threw it at the window, the glass came crashing to the ground, porcelain and glass creating a new scene in the kitchen and outside the window. "Now we can't have people over for dinner, lets look on the bright side at least they can't see how crazy my wife is!" Asriel yelled at her, shaking her violently. "Wife! I'm not your bloody wife! I'm still Marisa Coulter!" "Is everything alright?" shouted Mrs Simmons from over the fence. Lord Asriel carefully positioned himself by the broken window and shouted back "Yes fine! My friend just stuck an egg in the microbox and you know eggs they explode, I meant to throw the microbox in the sink but it hit the window!" "FRIEND!? Friends don‘t make love at night, whispering sweet nothings in each others ears!" Marisa yelled and pushed Asriel out the window. Stelmaria winced when his other half hit the prickly bush underneath. "Oh well umm good luck with that egg!" Mrs Simmons shouted and disappeared from view.

Mrs Coulter left the kitchen, feeling distraught and off balance, she walked into the nearest room, the study. She sunk down on one of his chairs and closed her eyes, bracing herself for Lord Asriel when he stormed into the study, picking prickly leaves off him. Mrs Coulter smoothed down her skirt and stroked the golden monkey fondly. 5 minutes later and the door burst open to reveal a very angry Lord Asriel, his black eyes staring at her with pure anger. And then it happened so fast as he picked her up by her arm and his fist connected with her face and she went down as fast as somebody being knocked over by a car. Marisa lay in a heap on the floor, everything was fuzzy and she couldn't process what had just happened. She couldn't see properly through her teary eyes. Why had he hit her? He had been with Ruta Skadi and she'd hardly got her revenge. She tried to sit up but fell backwards, her head felt so heavy, one of her cheeks throbbing painfully. She tried again, this time sitting upright and she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up and Lord Asriel. Taking a deep breathe Marisa stood up, and finding her footing she aimed a punch at his face, but he knew it was coming and grabbed her hands. Ignoring the pain in her face Marisa kicked him in the shins, causing Asriel to cry out and let her go. And she tumbled to the ground with him her hands pinning down his wrists. "I never did anything with Ruta except that kiss!" Lord Asriel said his breathing fast and heavy. "I swear on my mother's tea cups that you didn't destroy that I only kissed her!" and she slapped him again for trying to be funny. "Swear on your daemon!" Marisa shouted. "I swear on Stelmaria that I never did anything with Ruta except kiss her," Lord Asriel said his chest heaving. She stared at him for awhile and let go of his wrists. Asriel pushed her skirt up but then Marisa stood up, disgusted and left the study.

Damn he needed her. Asriel caught up with her, just as she tripped over the rug. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her towards him. "Get off me Asriel, I hate you right now," Marisa whispered to him. "Marisa, I want you and only you. I need you. Please stop being angry," Asriel said his face inches from hers. She closed her eyes as she spoke "You hit me," "You pushed me out a window!" "You deserved it" "And you deserve this" and he planted angry kisses on her mouth, and her nails dug into his shoulders as she kissed him back. She hurriedly undid his trousers as he pushed her skirt up. She bit his bottom lip hard as he pounded against her. She let out a cry of pleasure and pain, he kept her on the edge. I need this, damn it Asriel! Short and sweet, as a voice flooded into the hallway, bringing them back to reality."Hello is anyone there?" called a person outside the front door. Mrs Coulter covered her mouth with her hands as if she could take back her moans and shouts of profanity. She got up off the floor and pulled on her underwear hastily and ran a hand through her matted hair. Asriel followed suit, both red faced answered the door. None other than Mrs Simmons. "Oh hello," Mrs Simmons said nervously. "Umm is everything alright? Just some of the other neighbours thought that I should check what was wrong, and what happened to your face dear? It's all red on one side," Mrs Simmons continued. Nosy neighbours. "Oh you know exploding eggs! I'm making a pavlova," Mrs Coulter said smiling. "A what?" Mrs Simmons asked curiously. "A pavlova, it's a New-Zee- I mean Neuseeland cake. It's really delicious! But hard to make, bit of a mess, but worth it, tastes divine," Mrs Coulter said laughing. "Hmm never heard of it, well good luck with your…pavlova," Mrs Simmons said staring at the two with suspicion.

Mrs Coulter closed the door behind her and sunk onto the floor her head in her hands "I am so tired," she sighed. "Hey what happened to the pavlova anyway?" Asriel asked her. "It needs to stay in the oven overnight so it can rise, so we can't eat it till tomorrow," Mrs Coulter answered and he pulled her to her feet. "Carry me to bed please," she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Asriel picked her up in his arms, and she rested her head on his shoulder. He put her in their bed and watched as she gave a little yawn, the golden monkey releasing his grip on Stelmaria, and climbed onto the bed joining his tired other half, in the unconsciousness of sleep.