“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” My eyes aren’t on the installation. They’re on her.
She stares up at the six-hundred and eighty-seven glowing lanterns above our head. The room around us is pitch black glass, making the pink and violet lighting mirror beneath our feet until it feels like we’re surrounded by light in every direction.
“Careful,” I warn, keeping a hold of her hand as she spins to look down the room. “It can be disconcerting at first.”
She takes an unsteady step, wobbling until she finds her footing with a delighted laugh.
“This is… I’ve never seen anything like this.”
A heaviness in my chest lightens at her words. I wanted to share this with her, this private part of myself. “This isn’t everything, you know.”
She turns to me, her eyes shining with the shimmering light of the lanterns above us.
“Show me?”
Such a simple request, but it hits hard. As I stare at her, both of us bathed in warm light, the realization hits me.
I’d do anything this omega asked me to do.Anything.
“Cade?”
Snapping out of it, I clear my throat and steer us through.
The lantern show is just the first part of what makes this one of my favorite places. Gabrielle laughs in delight as the next room reveals itself as an immersive aquarium, walls, ceiling and floors alive with the blue of the sea and filled with thousands of fish and plants.
We walk through slowly, stopping at nearly every section to take it in. Gabrielle reads every single display with intense concentration, her forehead creasing as she repeats the words back to herself.
And I just watch, soaking in her enthusiasm, thirsty for every excited squeak, every word, every glance she gives me, every tug on my hand.
And then we get to the final exhibit.
Gabrielle falls silent when I push open the double doors.
Her hand falls from mine as she drifts forward, her head craned up.
The night sky twinkles above us, the stars enlarged to glowing balls overhead, the planets on full display.
“It’s like we’ve just walked into space,” Gabrielle whispers.
Taking her hand again, I gently steer her to the area I arranged earlier. There’s only a handful of other groups here, the space more than large enough for privacy as she takes in the heap of blankets, the bottle of wine chilling in a bucket, the glasses.
“This is for us?”
“For you.”
She sinks down onto the blankets and I pour us a glass each as she continues to take it in.
“They built the planetarium a couple of years ago. This is my favorite part,” I admit.
“I think it’s mine too.” Her voice is full of wonder.
“Just wait.” Checking my watch, I relieve her of her glass, encouraging her to lie back as I do the same. We wait in comfortable silence, the quiet of the space around us broken by Gabrielle’s soft breathing.
It only takes a minute before the first shooting star barrels across the sky. Turning to Gabrielle, I watch the show in the reflection of her wide eyes, her lips parted as star after star cascades in a shower of golden light, building until the sky above us is lit up with hundreds of sparkling bursts.
I feel her fingers brushing against mine, the gentle nudge of her hand.
Entangling our fingers together feels as natural as breathing.
