John knew that sacrifices had to made. Especially for his family. He had sworn that to himself the minute he saw the mushroom cloud over DC long ago. And he swore it again when he heard that Thomas had his disease, his own personal nightmare. He had found the right solution for that particular problem, having Thomas kidnapped by Semites. However, when presenting it to Helen...it didn't work out as well. Brooding over his plan, he wondered what made his beautiful wife cry. Was it the fact that they would not see Thomas for a long time? That he was her favorite? Or something else entirely? Either way he was not going to face the look of his wife for a long time after this. But, he was tired and had to sleep at some point. As a result, he went up the stairs to the master bedroom.
Helen woke up to the whisper of someone slipping into the sheets. She slightly jumped, then realized that it was her husband. He raised his scraggly eyebrows as if to say "Well.." She rubbed his cheekbone and smiled at him. No matter how mad she was, she would always love him. No matter what. And so, Helen drunk the coffee, cigarette, brown whiskey taste of John through his lips.
John was surprised. He thought that Helen would shun him but instead.. she was kissing him. He turned to his side to help her and kissed her back. Harder and more desperate than before. With the world on the brink of war and his son crippled with a disease, he had to savor every moment with his wife. "I- kiss-love -kiss- you", he said in between kisses. Helen then got daring, slipping her tounge into his mouth. This drew a slight laugh from John, which he tried to cover. However, this produced the most beautiful sound in the world:his wife laughing. Helen giggled melodically, eyes closed in pure ecstasy and her noises ringing around the room. "Shhh" John quieted her down. "Don't wake the kids." Helen giggled a response,"They don't care. They're asleep, love." This made him smile and kiss her.
After a extremely long time of kisses (both parties lost count after 10 minutes), John said to his wife, "We need to sleep, Helen." She sighed softly, then laid her head on his chest. "I love you" Helen said as she was about to drift off, "always and forever." "And I too." John said in response. He gently touched her lips and curled her as close as physics would allow.
The two lovers slept, Helen on John's nightshirt-clad chest, and John holding her close. When he first met his wife, he never knew that she was such a cuddler. She explained it on their wedding night, the two covered in each others body fluids, "It makes me feel safe in your arms, John." This memory crawled through his mind as his lover was cuddled in the same position as she did that night. She sleepily murmured, "Good night, John, always and forever." before falling asleep, relaxed in her lover's arms, "Always and forever too, love" John whispered in her ear and kissed her gorgeous lips.
He stayed up a extra few minutes staring at his queen, his beloved before grabbing all the sleep that he could before dressing for Dr. Adler's funeral. He would always protect his family. He needed to, especially after he saw people looking out for themselves and failing to see what their loved ones wanted. Also, he and Helen were apparently lucky. Sometimes, bedroom conversations would turn to relationships from his wife's retelling of stories at Garden Club. He was lucky, especially from looking at her porcelain face and lovely eyes. Could it be possible to love someone more and more every day? It was, in their case. And looking down at his angel, he saw why the snakes worshipped their every move. They dreamed of a relationship like theirs, but it was one they would not be able to attain. In his opinion, they were just thinking of the now rather than the forever. But he took his thoughts about relationships out of his head to kiss his lover on the cheek. Then, he fell into a pleasure-filled sleep, filled with dreams of he and Helen sharing their lives together, as they were now, filled with children and love to span the world over. And when he had a nightmare of being taken away from his wife in between those golden dreams, he'd cuddle her even harder, as if being near her could keep the possibility of torture away from them.