"It wasn't. And there were days I wanted to punch you." He grinned. "Actually, there are still days I want to punch you."
"Also fair. And if I ever hurt her, I’ll be the first to ask you to punch me."
"But I can see how you look at her. How she looks at you. And it's real. That matters more than my bruised ego."
We exchanged a smile, and slowly things started to shift back into their old ways. We finished the dishes and joined everyone in the living room, where a massive game of charades was underway. Rosie was trying to act out something, flapping her arms wildly while Ivy and Nova shouted guesses.
"Swan Lake!" Daisy yelled.
"Yes!" Rosie collapsed in laughter, and the others all clapped.
I dropped onto the couch, and she immediately curled into my side. Across the room, Aaron caught my eye and nodded in approval.
We were okay. All of us.
And I was finally able to hold my girl the way I wanted to, the way she had deserved from the beginning.
I watched her play charades with the girls, and between every round, she came back to my arms. We kept the PDA to a minimum, but holding her was enough after months of avoiding her.
I loved being able to kiss her cheek when she got something right and just throw my arm around her and pull her to my side whenever I felt like it.
And she loved it too; I could tell from the way her eyes sparkled with happiness every time she looked at me.
Later that night, after everyone had gone home and Rosie and I were alone in my room, she traced the scar on my knee.
"Does it still hurt?" she asked softly.
"Sometimes. But less than it used to." I covered her hand with mine. "The physical pain is mostly gone. It's the mental stuff that lingers."
"I get that." She pulled up her dress and showed me her hip, where a thin scar marked her surgery. I always took extra timekissing her scar, reminding her that she’s perfect just the way she is. "Mine too. Some days it aches. Some days I forget it's even there. But it's part of me now."
"Battle scars," I said with a smile.
"Survivor scars," she corrected. "Proof that we made it through."
I pulled her closer, breathing in her vanilla scent. "I'm grateful for you, Rosie. Today and every day."
"I'm grateful for you too." She kissed me softly. "For being patient with me. For not giving up when I was a mess."
"You were never a mess. You were healing."
"We both were." She chuckled. "We still are."
"Yeah, but we're doing it together now. That makes it easier."
She settled against my chest, and we lay there in comfortable silence, listening to the distant sounds of the rest of the guys rummaging around the house.
"Derek?" she said eventually.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for today. For fighting for us. For making it possible for me to be part of your world."
"You were always part of my world, Thorn. From the moment you showed up with those terrible cupcakes."
She swatted my chest. "They weren't terrible."
"They were pretty bad."
