Just a chapter full of domestic fluff.
It had been over a month since returning from the underworld and life finally felt like it was getting back to normal for Emma and Killian. They had established a schedule with Henry staying with them for one week and then Regina the next and they found routine in the balance of working and spare time outside of work. They were very much in the honeymoon, awestruck, hopelessly wrapped up in each other phase of their relationship, giving the most mundane tasks fresh life.
Of course, that wasn't to say that adjusting to living together wasn't without its challenges. For example, Killian was an early riser and Emma would sleep straight until noon if left unbothered, and he had to learn how to get himself ready for the day without waking her up. After a couple weeks, he began to leave coffee for her at her bedside table before leaving to either go to work or to the docks or go spend some time alone on the porch.
There was also the matter of cleanliness. Emma wasn't a slob but Killian firmly believed that everything needed to have a rightful place and that it should stay in that rightful place when it wasn't being used - it was the sailor in him. This at least meant that they avoided the classic razor-clippings-left-in-the-sink argument, but there was a rather heated confrontation after the fourth time Killian tripped over her shoes lying in the middle of the bedroom.
Meanwhile, Killian knew little about modern cooking or food and they'd had to have a long conversation discussing what they would be eating as a family, primarily that boiled fish was not going to be on the menu. Emma was no chef but she could plan a proper twenty-first century meal.
Their worst fights came on the days when both of them struggled against their own independence. They both were accustomed to living on their own and dealing with their emotions without anyone else. Now, Emma had nowhere to hide when she was in a bad mood and he had to resist his urge to run and hide. They had to learn how to be comfortable sharing what was on their mind and they had to learn to give the other space when they needed it - which did happen from time to time. They both were shocked to realize that after all they had been through to be together, it served them well to spend some time alone.
Despite the bickering, despite all of the adjusting, despite the challenges that naturally arose when living with the love of your life for the first time, every single moment was steeped with gratitude. Every morning that Killian got to roll over and kiss Emma before getting out of bed was priceless to him. Every night that she fell asleep with her ear pressed to his chest and his heart beating just an inch or two below made her feel safer than she had ever felt before.
This time that they had was invaluable. They spent their spare time wrapped in each other's arms on the couch, on the deck of the Jolly Roger, or even in their bed, sharing pieces of themselves that had yet to have the chance to share - some of these being things they had never shared with anyone. With each story, trait, or confession, they fell more deeply in love. You'd think already knowing that they shared True Love would mean they had reached the height of their love but to their surprise and delight, they were still falling for each other. Killian swore that he would never grow tired of looking at her. Emma hoped that she never lost that swooping sensation in her stomach every time she saw him.
She was having one of those days when even the mundane tasks of life were making her happy. The grocery store was at its peak level of busyness when she got there. She kept her head down and was focused on her list but made it no further than the dairy section before she was stopped by a friendly townswoman. Emma was blanking on her name. Karen? Kaitlyn? Carol?
"Sheriff Swan," she greeted cheerfully. "I just wanted to say that you have my absolute support as sheriff."
"Oh, thank you," Emma said as she tried to maneuver her cart around the woman to pick up a pound of butter. Maybe it was Lauren?
The woman stepped into her path. "No, I mean it. If you need anything, just know that you can call on me and I will always be willing to help."
"Um, thanks. Right now, I just need some yogurt."
"Right, so sorry. I'll be on my way, then." She continued to stare at Emma for another few seconds before Emma sidestepped her to grab a large container of yogurt, as that was the one thing Killian found he preferred for breakfast. Laurel! Finally, she remembered her name was Laurel.
Finally back on track with her grocery shopping, she continued through the dairy section, picking up some hummus and cheese. Right as she turned into the freezer section and was selecting multiple bags of vegetables, Sneezy and Dopey greeted her.
"Emma!"
"Hi, guys. Sorry, not much time to talk to today-"
"I forgive you for turning me into a tree," Dopey said with that signature, well, dopey grin of his saying just how forgiven she was.
"And," Sneezy sneezed, "I forgive you for turning me into a statue."
More exasperated with how long this supposedly quick trip to the store was taking than her previous actions in cursing both dwarves, she smiled and nodded. "Well, I appreciate that. If you'll excuse me, I would like to keep-"
"Do you have plans tonight?" Dopey asked.
"What?"
"Us dwarves get together on Wednesday nights to play poker. Want to join?" Sneezy followed.
"No, sorry, I have work," she lied. Truthfully, one of the last things she wanted to do was go to poker night with the seven dwarves. That was more of her mother's thing.
"Next week?" Dopey said cheerfully.
"You know, gambling isn't really my thing, more Killian's pastime, and he is trying to break the habit to be honest so I don't think it's best for me to do it. Sorry guys." She practically ran down the aisle to escape them before they could say anything else to her.
By the time she got home, she had chewed away most of the thin skin behind her lips out of frustration and she dropped her grocery bags on the kitchen table with a huff. Killian must have heard her come in because he descended the steps with bleary eyes after only sleeping for a few hours. Between her, her dad, and him, Killian was the best at doing night shifts because he had the most practice at staying alert at odd hours of the day, but he paid for it most as he found it difficult to sleep once the sun was up.
"That is a vexed savior if I've ever seen one," he said when he noticed her sour face.
"Vexed would be an understatement," she huffed as she shut the refrigerator door a little too aggressively, causing the jars on top to rattle. "I don't ask for much from life but you know, it would be nice to do something normal, and do my grocery shopping, in peace. I can't be the savior all of the time to these people or even the sheriff! Sometimes, I just want to be Emma. Plain, old Emma, who likes her grilled cheese with four slices of american cheese and mayo, and Emma who wants to buy said cheese and mayo without having to solve all of the town's problems at the same time."
Killian's eyebrows rose as he listened to her. It wasn't often that he saw Emma irrationally grumpy about something somewhat minor. "Love, did something happen at the store?" he asked in a slow voice.
"Yeah, getting hounded by townspeople and dwarves happened."
"What can I do?"
She placed her hands on her hips, utterly exasperated. "I don't know. I just needed to get that off my chest."
"Do you feel better now?"
"Maybe rum would help."
"I can't believe I'm actually questioning this, but it is before noon, love."
"Good point."
He stepped up toward her and wrapped her tightly in his arms with her head tucked underneath his chin. He drew in a deep breath and she followed his lead and did the same, breathing in the distinct briney and minty smell of him. When she had done everything she had to save Killian's life, she was mostly thinking about the future with him in the context of all the big stuff, like marriage, holidays with family, maybe even having children of their own someday. More and more, she was realizing that deep down, these small moments were actually what she was fighting for because at the end of the day, these were the moments that made her fall in love with him all over again.
"How's this?" he murmured into her hair.
"This works."
While they were finding a routine together and basking in this temporary peace that had come over the town, not everything could be bliss.
They learned this the hard way one night while they slept. There was a pounding on their front door that caused both of them to bolt upright, out of bed, and suddenly they were facing off against each other on opposite sides of the bed. He had a long knife in his hand and was standing in a defensive pose, while she had her gun drawn and aimed at him. There was a moment of disorientation while they processed that they were not the threat.
"Swan, you sleep with a firearm?" he asked incredulously.
"You sleep with a sword?" she returned, equally shocked.
"Only for the last two hundred years."
The knocking at the front door got their attention again and they both dashed to put some clothes on so that they could answer the door in something other than their respective underwear. When Emma opened the door, gun still in hand but with the safety on, she found Ashley and Sean on their front porch.
"Sean, Ashley, what're you doing here at…" She trailed off, not sure what time it actually was.
"One o'clock in the morning," Killian completed for her.
"We didn't know who else to come to," Ashley said in an apologetic tone.
Sean's hand crept over her shoulders. "We went on a date tonight and we were just going to go home when we passed the pawnshop. There were a lot of crashing sounds and some weird flashing lights. We thought you would want to know."
Emma closed her eyes, trying desperately to not snap at them to let her sleep and she'll deal with it in the morning. That wasn't an option, sadly. "Okay, we'll go check it out. Thanks." When she closed the door, she leaned against it and looked at Killian with tired eyes. His expression made it clear that he also wanted to go back to bed. She could have called her father, who was on patrol that night, but if there was an issue with Gold, it would probably be helpful if Emma was the one to interfere since she could best defend herself against him.
"Swan," he practically groaned. She leveled a look at him that made him change his tune. "I'll make us some coffee." She kissed him on the cheek and then went upstairs to grab both of their jackets, shoes, and his belt. Ten minutes later they were in her bug with two travel mugs of coffee, driving toward town.
"You sleep with a loaded gun?" he asked, probably only talking as a means to stay awake.
"You sleep with a sword."
"See, that is the second time you're referred to it as a sword, and it's not a sword, it's a seax." Her exasperated frown made it clear that she could care less what kind of sword it was. "At least my weapon of choice couldn't discharge at any given moment."
"I keep the safety on."
"Where do you keep it?"
"Where do you keep your sw-seax?"
"Under my pillow."
"Under the mattress."
"Aren't you afraid that one of these nights while we're having sex your gun is going to go off?"
"That is your concern?"
"It's not yours?"
"Why do you sleep with a weapon, Killian?"
"I would imagine for the same reason you do: in a previous time of your life, you became accustomed to sleeping armed because sleep makes you vulnerable and if you are asleep with your hand around a gun, you can at least defend yourself as soon as you wake up if you are woken by a threat. Did I guess correctly?"
She huffed and parked her car on the opposite side of the street from Gold's shop. Before he could exit, she put her hand on his forearm to keep him in place. "You're right."
"I am?"
"Yeah. We have done so much in this last year to fight for our happy ending, and that means that starting now, no more fighting or running. Tomorrow, we can find a safe place in the house to keep both of our weapons that is not in our bedroom, okay?"
He offered her that smile that he only ever gave her, the one that was completely unguarded and warm and conveyed just how much he loved her. "As you wish, Swan. Now, let's go see what our resident Dark One is scheming up this time, shall we?"
They walked across the street, both surveying the shop warily. It was slightly less absurd for them to both draw their weapons now that they weren't in their house. Light was pouring through the shuttered windows and there was no way to discern where in the shop it was coming from, or even if Gold was in there. There were any number of items inside that could kick up some magic without him needing to use them. Dark magic blanketed the street, sending a chill down Emma's spine.
"Swan, do you feel that?"
"Yeah, there's dark magic here - a lot of it."
"What's the plan of attack here, Sheriff?" Killian asked.
"No attacking," she said quickly. "You take the front, I'll take the back. Count to thirty and then go in." She circled around to the back door of the shop and used her magic to unlock the door. When she reached the number thirty in her head, she wrenched the door open, gun in her hands, and immediately stumbled over a tipped shelf.
The workspace in the rear of the shop was in an utter state of disarray. Bookshelves toppled, tables upended, all kinds of magical objects and antiques strewn across the floor.
"Swan?" Killian called from the front, appearing at the curtain, eyes widening slightly at the state of the room.
"No sign of Gold, though he must have had one hell of a temper tantrum," Emma said, putting her gun back in its holster.
"The front isn't much better. What do you think happened here?"
Emma's phone began ringing then and she slid it out of her back pocket to see that her father was calling. "Hey, Dad, what's up?"
"Are you at Gold's?" he asked.
"Yeah, why?" She quickly lowered her phone to put it on speaker so Killian could hear.
"Belle just showed up at the station. Apparently they got into a big fight. She's looking for somewhere to stay," her father explained in a low voice, making her assume that he wasn't far from Belle and was trying to speak as discreetly as possible.
Killian's frown grew, the late hour deepening the lines and shadows of his face. "Is she okay?" he asked, his tone dark with concern.
"She's unharmed, just upset."
Emma nodded and they both sighed in relief. "Okay, she can come back to our house. We'll be right over to get her."
"Should we worry about Gold?"
She considered it for a moment before shaking her head. "No. If he's upset about losing Belle, he's mad at himself, not anyone else. He only lashes out at people when it benefits him and he won't do that now and jeopardize pushing Belle away anymore."
Belle was quiet when Emma and Killian picked her up from the station, and then took her back to their house. It hadn't even been a discussion whether or not Belle would be with them for as long as she needed. They had a couple spare bedrooms with the old full bed from the loft in one of them and Killian quickly got to work making it up with sheets and a quilt while Emma started pulling some spare pajamas out for their guest. Emma also took the time alone with Belle to try to talk to her.
"Are you okay?" she asked, examining Belle carefully. They had only woken her a week ago using a potion created from Emma and Killian's True Love. There was a fair bit of disorientation when she finally woke up from the curse and it took a long time for Emma to recount to her everything that had happened since she had been asleep. At the time, she had insisted that she wanted to stay and give Gold a chance to redeem himself for her.
"I promise, I'm okay. He didn't lay a hand on me - he never would," Belle assured her, sniffing as she brushed a tear away with the back of her hand. "I'm just hormonal. I have been crying a lot lately."
"I get that."
"I think…" Her chin quivered as fresh tears fell across her cheeks. "I can't help but feel like this was the final time. I have given him so many second chances. After what he did in the Underworld, making that deal with Hades, and then becoming the Dark One again...I want our baby to have a better life than what he would give."
Emma felt conflicted about it. She knew how important it was for a child to grow up knowing both parents but she also couldn't deny everything she had learned from both Neal and Killian about the last time Gold had been a father and how poor of a job he did at that. Either way, it wasn't her place to tell Belle what to do and tonight wasn't the time to do so anyway.
"We can talk more after you've gotten some sleep."
She shuffled off to bed, Killian soon coming back into the bedroom, his feet dragging beneath him. Neither one bothered changing back into their pajamas as they both stripped down to their underwear and climbed underneath the covers for the second time that night.
When Emma's alarm on her phone went off promptly at six o'clock that morning, she groaned with the realization that she had work that day. She buried herself deeper in the thick comforter, hoping that if she made herself small and still enough, the world would forget she existed and she could sleep for the rest of the day. Sadly, that really only worked for sleeping alone.
"Love?" Killian asked as he yawned widely. God, she didn't think yawns could be handsome or sexy until she saw Killian Jones do it and it sent her hormones through the roof.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," she groaned with her face still in her pillow. "You know," she said, rolling so that she was propped up on his torso, her fingers lazily dragging through the hair on his chest, "I've never told you this before, but it's pretty sexy when you help me sheriff like you did last night."
"Funny, I could say the same about you." She kissed him for a long moment before pulling away hastily, dragging the sheet with her and wrapping it around herself as she walked to the bathroom. "Thief," he called to her.
"Pirate."
It was a long day at the station with reviewing the year's budget and deciding what needed changed for the new year. There was hardly anything to change in the budget but going through it line by line and calculating costs and predicting what she would need next year was more than tedious. After all, when she worked in bail bonds she never had to do the math; only catch the perp. Killian texted her to say that her mother would be taking Belle out to dinner that night to hopefully discuss what Belle wanted to do next, which was a huge weight lifted off Emma's shoulders as she knew her mother would be much better at doing that than her.
Suffice to say that all she wanted to do when she got home was curl up on the couch, in her pajamas, with a bowl of ice cream, and maybe ask Killian to massage her shoulders and neck.
Which is why she was less than excited to find Regina standing in the entryway. "What's going on here?" she asked, hanging her keys on the hook by the door.
"Extra protection barriers," Regina responded.
"Are we under attack?"
Killian emerged from the basement then, his face lighting up when he saw Emma standing in their foyer. "Welcome home, love."
"Aren't you going a little overboard with finding a safe place to keep our weapons in the house?" she asked him.
"No, but our various voyages to other realms and other related mishaps did come up today and I may have informed Regina of your frustration over what happened at the grocery store, and she suggested that this might help."
"If it's also worth anything to you, I pay Happy to do all of my grocery shopping for me," Regina chimed in.
Emma crossed her arms. "Seriously?"
"Have you ever seen me in the freezer aisle? No."
"Anyway," said Killian, kicking the basement door closed behind himself, "I know you're the Savior and everything and you know I will always support you in that, but I will not support this house being a bloody train station for all of Storybrooke's disgruntled citizens and worst villains," he ranted.
Emma stepped up to him and placed her hands on his chest. "Do you feel better now?"
He took a deep breath and nodded. "I merely had Regina come over and set a protective spell or what have you on the entire house and yard." Regina saluted from where she stood by the door with a spellbook tucked in her arms.
"We already have one of those," Emma said slowly.
"This is one that protects against portals. Since you and I have a habit of being sucked through portals at the most inopportune moments, I thought it would be best to put in place a protective enchantment that will prevent magic beans, fairy wands, or anything else of the sort from creating portals that will whisk us away in the middle of dinner."
"Sounds handy."
"Henry also showed me how to buy something on the computer and a safe will be arriving in two days that we can keep right in there," he pointed to the door leading to the basement, "so that we can keep our various weapons close at hand, but not in our bedroom."
Regina cringed. "I think I just learned too much so I am going to leave now." She said quick goodbyes and then let herself out.
"Henry?" Emma asked Killian.
"Upstairs with Violet."
"With the door open, I hope?"
He gave her a knowing smile as he tenderly brushed her cheekbone. "Of course."
Emma nodded in approval before heading to the kitchen in search of food to satiate her starving stomach. "Thank goodness. I would rather face the worst monsters in all of the realms than a teenage pregnancy."
"Swan, they are fourteen," he reminded her.
"Yes, and do you know what I was doing when I was fourteen? Getting tattoos."
"You know, I have never had a child myself, but I am fairly certain that tattoos do not cause pregnancy, love. Otherwise, I would have some offspring to answer for."
Emma rolled her eyes as she put her food in the microwave. "I'm just saying that age means nothing when you're a teenager and think you know what's best." She took a few steps closer to the table where Killian was now sitting, waiting to keep her company while she ate her dinner, and lowered her voice. "I worry about him sometimes. He's a good kid and has one of the best hearts but that doesn't mean he isn't rebellious. I'm scared of what that rebelliousness will look like as he gets older."
"Wayward he may be, but he is also a young man of honor. Have some faith in him, love. He will not do anything that would jeopardize him or his girlfriend."
The microwave dinged and she took her bowl with her back to the table. "God, a girlfriend. When did he become old enough to have a girlfriend? I feel like it was just yesterday that he was knocking on my door in Boston, back when all he cared about was getting everyone their happy ending and having two moms."
He smiled at her sympathetically. "Feeling sentimental tonight, are we?"
"A little. I mean, he isn't going to be young forever."
"Ah, but there are ways."
"Not helpful."
"Love," he said, reaching across the table to put his hand on hers, "he'll always be your boy, no matter how old he is."
"Thanks."
A frown formed on Killian's lips and his gaze moved down to the table pensively. "Have you given any consideration as to us someday having a babe of our own?" She nearly spit out her soup. "I know it's early and we've only just begun living together. I wasn't sure if you have ever contemplated it."
There was something hopelessly endearing about how bashful he was being. "Something's telling me you have contemplated it."
He shrugged. "Once or twice." He was lying, and she knew him, so she could guess he had thought about it quite a bit. "Especially after confirming that we share True Love. Henry already has his own unique kind of magic about him and that is only from being your child. I can't help but wonder what a product of True Love twice over could be like."
"I mean, I figured you picked out a four-bedroom house for a reason."
Again, he shrugged. "No pressure, love."
"No pressure at all," she said slowly.
It wasn't until later that night as they got ready for bed that night, he filled her in on his day spent with Belle. "I truly feel for her," he said, laying on Emma's side of the bed to warm it up for her. "She wanted to believe that he had changed or learned some sort of lesson only for him to let her down - again. Her faith in him is astounding."
She switched off the light of their ensuite bathroom and he scooched over so that she could take her place before pressing herself against his side. "I just hope she can have some peace. It won't be easy for her to go through this pregnancy alone. If she and Gold can make up at least to the point where they can be civil and he can, I don't know, help her with some of it, it could be better for her."
"I don't see a path where they could reconcile," he said, tucking his blunt arm behind his head. "He would have to change his ways and we both know firsthand how difficult it is to resist the darkness. He has hundreds of years of it to battle."
"God, if he had just left it alone. If he had just not been so greedy and let the darkness be destroyed, he wouldn't be in this position right now. Neither of them would." She could hear Killian's teeth grind together in frustration.
"Would you have come for me if he hadn't done it?"
The question stilled her. "What?"
"If the crocodile hadn't betrayed us, if he hadn't rendered my sacrifice useless, would you have still come to the Underworld for me?"
Oh. She hadn't ever put it together like that. "I don't know," she said, deciding that honesty would probably be best. "That day after you died, I was just numb. I couldn't do anything. Hearing the dagger call to me woke something up in me. I want to say that I would have gotten there eventually, but Gold becoming the Dark One again spurred it on."
He sighed heavily and she waited for him to respond, for once not knowing at all what he was thinking. "Is it wrong for me to be glad he did it, then?"
They both met each other's eyes at the same time and she only answered by tilting her head up to kiss him softly. He breathed into her and gave into it for just a moment before pulling away so that he could get himself ready for bed.
"So you see, Swan, everything will work out just as it should. Have faith." He flicked her nose playfully and went to the bathroom as she settled into the heat he had left behind on the mattress, deeply grateful to be spending another night with her pirate.
Belle stayed with them for two weeks until she found her own place. She and Emma had spent hours talking in the time she lived with them and had many conversations about what Belle faced, having a baby on her own, and how to navigate moving forward without Gold. While she was obviously devastated, she had peace about moving on from him. It just so happened that Emma's parents had bought a house of their own and Belle was moving into the loft and taking a job at the school as their librarian.
Life continued to settle into a peace that was new to both pirate and Savior. Of course, while Emma and Killian were in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, it wasn't the same as it had been for previous relationships they'd had with other people. They didn't have the freedom to go on dates whenever they wanted and privacy was a luxury with a teenager in the house every other week. As much as they wanted to spend every moment they could together (Killian actually wanted to spend every moment with her naked), they had to adjust to having other people in the house with them and living on work schedules that could sometimes put them on opposite sleep schedules. They established rules for that reason, rules like sleeping with clothes on whenever they did have Henry, or only drinking on weekends and when they were alone. Henry was an easy kid but he was still a third person in their relationship.
There was a lot for them to learn about each other. Despite having True Love, they both had an entire life's worth of stories and experiences to share with the other. It almost became a ritual for them to lay in bed together at night and trade stories back and forth. Emma slowly shared with him the trauma of her childhood spent in the foster care system and he shared with her the trauma of growing up in servitude.
Some of the things they learned were surprising, none more than the morning when Killian awoke to the sound of Emma yelling in their bathroom. He was out of bed and across the room within seconds, opening the door to find Emma crouched on the sink beside the shower, her robe wrapped loosely around herself.
"What's wrong?" he asked, poised and ready for battle.
"There is a monster in the shower and I don't know how to get it out," she said.
He eyed her curiously and stepped closer, eyes landing on what she was talking about. "Swan, are you afraid of bugs?"
"I'm not afraid of bugs; I'm afraid of dinosaurs, and that thing has not seen the light of day since dinosaurs walked the earth." He leaned in closer to inspect it, causing her to grimace. It did have an abnormal surplus of legs, he would give her that. "Just get rid of it."
"Love, you have magic."
"I don't want it gone. I want it dead. You're lucky I haven't shot it yet."
"Okay," he sighed, willing to play along and solve this problem for her. After all, it wasn't often that she called on him to save the day. He went to their closet and returned with one of his shoes.
"No, don't squish it! Then its guts are going to be all over the tub and the bottom of your shoe which will then lead to them being all over the house-"
"Then what should I do?"
"Throw it away!" He fought back another sigh and reached down with his hand to pick it up so that he could take it to their trash outside when she let out a very uncharacteristic squeal. "Oh my god, please for the love of all that's holy, do not pick that thing up with your bare hand."
"Everything okay? I heard yelling?" Henry asked as he walked through their bedroom. He stopped short at the scene in front of him.
"There's a dinosaur in the shower," Emma told him nonchalantly.
Henry frowned and got a look for himself. "Oh, it's a house centipede. They're completely harmless. They actually eat other bugs like cockroaches and spiders." Killian motioned to Henry, as if he was conveying to Emma that the bug was a welcome guest in their shower.
"Well I would like it to be a garbage centipede."
"But-"
"Here's the plan." She crawled across the vanity and took several pieces of toilet paper and then leaned down over the edge to pull out a small plastic bag from underneath the sink before passing them to Henry. "Pick it up, tie it off inside the bag, and then throw it away outside, please."
Henry tried to hide his smile as he did as she said, securely knotting the plastic bag and shaking his head before leaving the bathroom to go throw it away. Emma accepted Killian's hand as she climbed down from the vanity.
"Don't you start," she warned, turning the water for the shower on now that it was cleared of all pests. He had less success than Henry at smothering his laugh. She gave him a lighthearted shove toward the door.
"I wasn't going to say anything."
"Uh-huh."
"Except one thing." He turned at the doorway and her eyebrows rose. Deciding to play with him just a little bit, she undid her robe and dropped it onto the floor, challenge in her eyes as she waited for what he was going to say. After several deep breaths, he said, "I love living with you." And then he stepped back into the room, scooped her into his arms, and carried her into the shower.