"The sky looks blue?"
Warner looks up to the clear sky at the sound of James' voice. It is blue. Bluer than their world has ever been graced with.
James starts to run around, circling Warner with his joy.
"How did it get so blue?" the little boy asks, his voice timid but so full of awe.
Warner looks around him and the silence of his once desolate world greets him with warmth. He shakes his head once, twice, and then places his hand atop James' shoulder.
"I don't know James. I don't know."
"How was your day off with James?"
Her whisper catches at the beat of Warner's heart and he looks up from his pillow to find Juliette sneaking under the covers.
He will never tire of her voice, the sound of her words when they form just for him. Even now, a year later, her effect on him is incredible, impossible.
He moves his arm in time for her to lay her head on his chest, his hands catching at the hem of her shirt. Warner traces lazy patterns on her skin and he hears the hitching of her breath.
It is equally incredible his effect on her, still, now, (he hopes) forever.
"We noticed that the sky was blue," he says softly, staring up at the ceiling.
"Quite an astute observation."
Warner's hand dips past the waistline of Juliette's shorts and her teeth clench at the material of his shirt. She can hear the small laughter rumble inside his chest and Juliette looks up sharply.
"Play fair."
Her eyes narrowed, hair in chaos, and skin flushed. She is exquisite, and Warner doesn't know what god to thank for this fortune. For her.
He leans in and traces his next words against her lips, "Don't I always love?"
Juliette doesn't say a word, no arguments, no resilient string of words to fight back, instead she catches Warner's bottom lip between her own and her breath gets lost somewhere with his.
That she surprises him still, is something Warner knows he will never get used too.
With their skins sated with the heat from the other, they lie back down, in their most familiar position again.
"The observation, my love, was that for the first time in a long time the sky was bluer than I've ever seen."
He can feel Juliette's smile against the strip of his exposed collar skin.
"The environmental commission was here today. They said that their plan to keep the pollution levels down and to clean emissions that are in the skies, has been working better than they thought. I saw the sky today through the window of your office. I've never seen something more beautiful."
Her voice is wistful and Warner kisses the top of her head lightly.
"James was happier than I've seen him in a while, it's the first time he's been allowed out into the grounds since the raid. He built me a paper boat. Told me Adam taught him how to make one when he was six."
The silence that settles around Juliette feels so heavy she thinks she might suffocate.
Her fingers find his and she clasps his end before he rolls of the edge.
"I've missed so much," he says, voice strained, and when she looks up at him his eyes are closed.
"You have all the time in the world to make up for it now," Juliette replies, "You'll watch him grow into a man. You'll see everything that you should, first girlfriend, graduation, first drink. He has so many firsts to go, and you'll be here through all of them."
"I don't know what to do love. I -" Warner catches himself at the break of his voice and then clears his throat, "I don't know how to be apart of a family."
Juliette reaches up and traces his cheek bone lightly, causing Warner to stir and open his eyes.
"Yes you do. You love so fiercely that it comes easy to you. You and I? We're a family. Do you know how? Because we force each other to be the best possible versions of ourselves, we support each other. You support me, you encourage me, you speak out when you think something's wrong, you talk to me, you share your life with me. And you're doing that for James and so much more. Do you know last week when he came back from your hiking trip he ran straight into my study and told me that you taught him how to keep a steady aim with his makeshift bow? His eyes were so huge and he was so happy Aaron. And you made that possible. He kept going on about how you were so cool for teaching him that, and that he's so glad he gets to spend time with you. Your loving James everyday is teaching him so much."
For a moment Juliette thinks Warner hasn't heard her but then softly he smiles.
"He said that?" he asks, as if he's the eleven year old now.
Juliette smiles brightly in response. "Yes. He did."
Warner cups the back of her head lightly and brings her forehead to his lips.
"Aaron Warner Anderson. A family man," he whispers against her skin.
"Juliette Ferrars. Leader of the Free World," Juliette half giggles in response.
In the darkness his lips find hers and in seconds they are fall, fall, falling into the other.