She'd always been just one step out of reach, but now she's right beside you, forehead touched to your chest and you feel whole. Like the two of you were pieces meant to fit together, meant to make one. And you marvel, in the early hours of the morning, how her soft breath warms your being. How the slow rise and fall of her chest matches your own, hearts keeping time to the same beat. And when you tilt your head to gaze at the serene smile on her lips, wiped clean of their usual scarlet tint, you find yourself matching her smile as you place a soft kiss on the tip of her nose, and gently tuck a wavy lock behind her ear. It's then that you finally think you know what peace is. What love means.
You whisper her name into the morning, savoring the feel of it on your tongue. You have to say it out loud to remind yourself that this is real, she's real, your love is real and you think fleetingly that if it's a dream then you don't ever want to wake up, because it's the best dream you've ever had. You softly rest your chin on your girlfriend's head, and realize that the word doesn't do her justice. Girlfriend. No, she's so much more to you. To the world. She's a genius. A savior. An innovator. A reformer. You could fill a novel with all the good she's done for the city, the example she's set for the next generation. She is a saint among the people. You may be the Avatar but in your eyes she's the real hero.
And the more you think about the way she swats your hand away from the stove as she's cooking, a mischievous glint in her eye and a bright smile on her face, and the way she gazes at you over her paper in the morning, glasses low on her nose, hair tied back loosely with a crimson ribbon and eyes so full of love that you can't help but blush and go to her every time, capturing her lips with a sweeping kiss, you realize again that girlfriend doesn't cut it. No, you want to spend the rest of your life with the beautiful woman in your arms and you plan to tell her right now.
Well, maybe later, you think again, as sleep begins to claim you, eyelids slowly fluttering closed. For right now, in this moment, you're just happy. You tighten your arms around your love and finally drift off to sleep, thinking how amazing it is that you've even found each other at all. But if it's one thing you've learned, it's that love works in mysterious ways.