Thirty Four

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John held a star in his arms and felt a supernova ignite in his chest.

Not since he'd promised a girl named Grace had John heard those words.

"Say it again."

John felt her smile.

"I love you," Gabby said, "I love you, I love you, I love you."

And, John realised, he loved her too.

Knowing this was knowing how to breathe, knowing the push and pull between his ribs as instinct, knowing that he couldn't stop.

"Gabby," he bowed and let the words flow against her temple, "I love you too."

Gabby went stiff and then lax in his arms. She was buzzing, alive, and suddenly laughing and crying all at once. This was joy. John had created this joy with five words.

"You beautiful man," Gabby giggled wetly, pulling back far enough to cup his jaw and smooth her thumbs along his cheekbones. "You wonderful, perfect, stubborn man."

With a small laugh of his own, John lifted her up until her smiling face was looking down at him with all that love, all that sweetness. Gabby pressed their foreheads together, winding her arms around his neck.

"Say it again," she whispered.

John grinned, and he did.

"I love you, Gabby Ann Edwards," John said, and he remembered one of the old movies they had watched one stormy night. A man confessing his love and asking another to be his. "Go steady with me?"

"Yes." She pressed a light kiss to his forehead. "I will go steady with you. Are you going to set me down anytime soon?"

"Nope." John felt the grin curling his lips. It didn't feel like he'd be able to stop any time soon. All of the pain, the fury, from the past few days dissolved. "Problem?"

"Nope," she echoed. "Can I kiss you?"

Anticipation hummed along his spine. "You would be the first."

"It's okay," she saw his worries before they'd fully formed, "just follow my lead."

"You've never led me wrong before."

John trusted her.

She kissed him, slow and easy, finding a rhythm that they sank into.

While John might not have experience in this, he had seen plenty of marines tucked away in dark corners as they stole precious moments of passion between battles.

John angled the kiss, deepening it, feeling a thrill he'd never felt before come alive when Gabby responded as eagerly. She tasted like sunshine.

Home isn't a place, she'd told him, home is the people you build it with.

John held a star in his arms and didn't intend to let go any time soon.