The candor in his voice struck her to the heart. “If you had come, I would never have come back with you.”
“No?” His hand stilled.
She said, “No. I had to…I had to come here. I had to. I know how that sounds.”
“I understand.”
He did; that was the hell of it. She asked, “Why do you love me?”
“You tried to brain me with a tin can. You held off Orcs with a rock. You laugh like you’ve never known how to cry. You give like you have everything there is to give. You make me crazy. You make me want things I never wanted before. And you kiss me like you’re on fire.”
Her fingers ran down his sternum, along his satiny skin. “I… love you…my God. That’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.” Her heart hurt, it was that full. She whispered, “Maybe having a baby with you isn’t such a terrifying thing to do.”
He said, “We have a very long time.”
Did they? They had Orcs at the door and a world to fend for. They might die, but if they did, at least they would have had this moment. It was enough; really, it was everything.
She snuggled in close to him. Time stood still. There was a future, but it was uncertain. The past, however, was long dead. She was not who she had once been, she was not where she had once been, and she knew in her heart that she would never see that world ever again; she was glad because she did not belong there. She belonged here, and with him.
For however long forever would be.
