The final chapter! Thank you all so much for making this huge fun for me! Especially everyone who reviewed! A super special thank you to deeedeee who taught me everything I know!

She was asleep. Her back was to him. The white expanse of it captivated him. He'd felt it only a few short hours ago. Its softness called to him. He wanted to run his fingertips from her neck to her shoulderblades. But he didn't want to wake her. Should he? This was the first night they'd spent together and he had no idea how she would respond to being woken in the middle of the night. He smiled, thinking of all the possibilities. Perhaps she'd wake with a start and give him a relieved smile when she saw him. Or maybe she'd be so alarmed she'd give him a playful slap on the shoulder. Better still, she might turn to him, still half asleep. Pleased and hopeful, he placed his hand on her shoulder and lightly traced a line down her side and to her hip, pressing his fingertips gently into the soft flesh there. The newness of being able to touch her as he liked was intoxicating. Humming, eyes closed, she turned to him. Almost awake, she buried her fingers in the silver soft hair on his chest and slid a leg between one of his.

"Hello, Mrs. Carson," he whispered as well as a man with his voice could whisper.

"Charles," she sighed back.

They kissed for a long, leisurely while and settled back into one another. He asked her, "Should we get up for a spell and have some tea?"

"Oh, yes," she replied. "That sounds lovely. My throat is so sore! I hope I'm not catching a c-" she stopped abruptly, putting her hands over her face in mortification.

"Oh my God," she whispered.

His eyebrows were almost to his hairline as he gave her a comically confused look. "Well!" he made a show of sounding concerned. "I wasn't aware you could catch any sort of illness from screaming your husband's name," he teased. She smacked him hard on the shoulder and he laughed. He nuzzled her neck until she forgot her embarrassment and irritation.

"Charles," she whispered, trying to get his attention. "Charles!" she nudged his chin away from her neck. He tilted his head up to her, looking for all the world like a man gazing into heaven.

"My dear," she said, "I must talk to you. There are so many things...so many things I need to say to you." He responded by turning on his side and showing her with his expression that she had his full attention. She had thought she would be nervous, would be afraid that telling him how much she loved him could not equal everything he'd given her. But here, in the dark, lying under the same sheet, the moon shining through the window, she was brave.

"When you were-" she paused, needing a moment to clear the lump from her throat. "When we-when I thought you were dead-" His brow furrowed at that, but she continued.

"It's true. I was certain you were gone. Forever. I knew I would never see you again. I was insane with grief." She looked away from him then. She couldn't look at him and speak of it without weeping. Blinking away the tears, she said "I-could barely function. I felt as though I were completely alone, walking against the current of a river. I kept thinking of all the things I should have said to you," she paused. "How much I looked forward to seeing you every morning. How every season you were gone, my world was dimmer. How, even though we fought and didn't see eye to eye on some things, I thought of you as the best of friends. How much I valued your opinion and admired your devotion. And how much," she looked at him then. "How very much I love you. And need you."

His eyes were bright with tears when he crushed her to his chest. As she had done once to his declarations, he simply said, "I love you, too."

Brushing away a tear, she smiled and gave a little laugh. Playful now, she said, "And I promise to love you until I die. And I promise to make love you to every night until you are exhausted and can hardly move!"

He laughed heartily, throwing his head back. "I'm going to hold you to that!" he said.

"You do that," she replied.

"I'm certain they never placed a bet on that," he said smugly as he closed his eyes and settled back into the bed.

She hummed softly as she snuggled her head on his chest. Then she shot bolt upright, clutching the sheet to her chest.

"What bet?!"

The End

Well, that's all! Tell me everything on your lovely minds!