It began as small touches across the table. The 'will you pass the coffee, please?' and washing up together, the bubbles and suds a mask for their fingers to entwine. It was the way he tucked her hair behind her ears, caressing her jaw line and neck, then when a floorboard creaked upstairs they'd jump apart.
It was all the moments they shared together. The fleeting glances and meaningful looks, talking with their eyes in a language no one else knew. It was coming in to her room to give her a goodnight kiss, those kisses than ended up with his hands on her thigh, under her shirt and beyond. Sometimes those goodnight kisses ended up as good morning kisses too, and then he would creep back to his own room trying to not make a sound.
It was the fact that everyone knew. Everyone else in the house knew about their illicit 'secret' affair. One they felt guilty of because of the war, because of everything. But it was part of their dynamic. Everyone knew what Carter and Max thought they didn't, and them keeping it a secret was just as fun for Taylor, Grant, David and Elizabeth as it was for Max and Carter.
It was the moment they sat everyone down, to come out, to spill the beans, to clue everyone in. That amidst this uncertainty, as the war was breaking out, that despite their pain they a found love. He took her hand and announced it, and everyone gulped down the beat of silence afterwards, followed by a chorus of hearty laughs. For a moment, the world outside their home was non-existent, the war invisible, and their worries forgotten.
