Gwyn had been staring out of the window for too long when the telltale twin beat of wings finally sounded. She leaned out of the window, cursing at the sight of only a red gleam in the darkness of the night. She'd missed him, and it took every ounce of self control not to run out of the room to find him, no, he might need a moment to switch from mission to home frame of mind, she could give him a moment to get his head back together. Still, she hardly seemed to be breathing, the air around her stilling until a shadow slipped under the door, the handle starting to move.

She'd planned to stay calm, but seeing him standing there, whole, uninjured, no sign of a fight, his hazel eyes burning with joy, the worry she'd been ignoring hit her in the face all at once. She let out a whimper of relief as she flew across the floor, covering the few steps in a few heartbeats. Azriel grunted with the effort of standing as she threw herself into his arms, cupping his face with both hands, her legs wrapped around his waist. He smiled at her as he shifted her weight to one hand to close the door behind him,

"I missed you too, love," he murmured, his voice low, slightly hoarse, and Gwyn drew in a shuddering breath, no longer fighting the tears that had been threatening to fall. She didn't need words as she buried her face in his neck, his scent, his arms, his shadows, his wings wrapping around her. Home. She was finally home. He was finally home. Azriel held her in silence as she shook with the silent tears slipping down her face, holding her up with one hand, the other stroking her hair, winding it around his fingers, tying and untying little braids, content to merely hold her as long as she needed.

Azriel didn't move, hadn't moved when Gwyn lifted her head, cupping his face again, almost in disbelief that he was there. She smiled. She smiled and a tear slipped down Azriel's face,

"You're exquisite," he whispered, "The most beautiful female I've ever seen, no, forget that, you're the most beautiful thing I've ever had the honor of laying eyes upon, and when you smile, gods," he groaned in emphasis, "It takes everything in me not to pull you closer, to snarl at any male who sees, because finally, this beautiful female, gorgeous inside and out, is mine. The one thing I wanted more than anything else, and you chose me too." Gwyn's breath caught in her throat,

"How could I not choose you?" She whispered, as if afraid that speaking louder might ruin the illusion, "You are everything I ever dreamed of, everything I hoped for as a little girl dreaming up the male I would marry, everything I wanted, and so much more. You have a kind heart, a beautiful soul, everything about you feels right, you are my mirror, Az, and it wasn't your face or body that drew me in, gorgeous as they are, it was the way that I knew, before I ever laid eyes on you, that you were mine. And I'm never letting go, not until death, and even then, I'll tear apart the very Cauldron to get back to you, I will not let as simple a thing as death stand between us, not now, and not ever. Every piece of my heart belongs to you and you only. I love you."

"Say it again."

"I love you, Azriel."

Gwyn had hardly taken another breath before his lips were on hers, his hand plunging into her hair, tugging gently to tip her head back. She gasped for breath when he moved, her backside hitting the mattress, then her back. Azriel was shaking as he hovered above her, unmoving as she tried to tug him down,

"Az. I need you, kiss me, please." He did, Mother above, he did. It was nothing like the kisses they'd shared before, this kiss was full of fire and longing, promise and hope, it was the kiss that she had only read about, the kind that left both of them panting. Azriel kissed her with a fervor that could only come from being separated, if only for a day and a half, and she yielded to him, wanted to yield to him, to let him in as she had never allowed anyone to. As his tongue swept against hers, as he claimed her mouth, an ache settled deep in her belly, and she couldn't help but wonder what his mouth, his tongue would feel like elsewhere. Her head fell back, Azriel's hand at the back of her head guiding her to tilt her head sideways, exposing the skin of her jaw and neck, and her eyes fluttered shut as his lips made their way up her jaw, pressing against the skin underneath her ear. She whined in protest when he pulled away, only to renew his attention on her neck, easily seeking out the spots that made her moan his name, the spots that sent heat flooding through her, pooling in her belly. He dragged his lips up her neck, and her hips lifted of their own volition. Azriel pulled back, only to flash her a cocky smirk as he moved a hand to her waist to push her back down, his weight, the almost-order didn't come close to frightening her, his weight atop her was comforting, she was somewhere that she would always be safe, somewhere that no-one would ever be allowed to hurt her, and she was more than happy to allow him to guide her.

"Tell me what you want." Gwyn moaned, tugging at his jacket, his shirt collar, the laces of his pants, anything to get them off him, "Words, love, tell me what you want,"

"More," she whined, "More, please,"

"You'll have to be more specific than that," he murmured, brushing a kiss against her temple at the same time as she once again attempted to lift her hips, but found his hand on her waist a solid, immovable wall. With minimal effort he'd managed to stop her from teasing, and she narrowed her eyes, "Anything, love, just tell me what you want."

"I want, I want you to undress."

"Fully?"

"Yes." The certainty in her voice surprised even Gwyn herself, and Azriel hesitated for a moment, her chance to change her mind before he sat up, but sat back onto her hips to keep her pinned still under him. Again, far from scaring her, it helped her let go of worries, she didn't need to worry, because he was helping her, guiding her, so she relaxed, watching closely as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. She held his gaze when he stood, stepping back to untie his pants. He hesitated again for a moment, but Gwyn tilted her head to the side, "What? Is it small?" Azriel tipped back his head and laughed, loud and uninhibited, before dropping his pants and undershorts. Gwyn held his gaze, but dared herself to look lower, across the chest that she'd seen enough to know anywhere, beyond the wings slightly curving around his hips, below the vee of muscles. She glanced back up to his face, eyes wide, she'd been joking, but she could not have been more wrong, he wasn't small, and it wasn't as if she had much to compare, but, gods. Azriel chuckled again, and stepped back towards her,

"You alright?" He murmured, and Gwyn realized she'd been blushing, and ducked her head to try and control the heat flooding to her face. She was really doing this, and she wasn't afraid, nervous yes, but never afraid, not with him. "Don't hide," he gripped her chin to turn her face back towards him, "Don't hide from me," he smiled when she met his gaze again, "Beautiful," he whispered, "You're perfect." She lifted her head at the same time he lowered his, their lips meeting again in another heated kiss, both of them rising up on their knees, pressing close, and Gwyn's eyes fluttered shut again. Everything, everything about this, about him urged her on, the slight pant in his breathing, the feel of his hands in her hair, on her face, of all of him pressed against her, she wanted more, more, more. She must have said as much because Azriel narrowed his eyes at her, brushing a thumb across her cheekbone, "You don't have to rush anything,"

"I'm not, I swear, I want more, I want you, Azriel," since there was no way in hell that he was going to risk making the first move, even with her insistence, she unbuttoned the first button of her shirt, holding his gaze the whole time, then another, and another. When her shirt finally fell away, Azriel's gaze was practically smoldering, and he was shaking with restraint when she undid the tie at the back of her bra, freeing her breasts. He brushed her hair back behind an ear,

"Beautiful," he murmured, and meant it, he really meant it. She reached for her pants, but Azriel caught her hand, "Let me. Is that okay?"

"Yes. Gods yes, it's more than okay," she managed, her breath catching when he lowered her back to the bed, his lips trailing across her face as his hands slipped down her sides, passing over her stomach a few times before moving to the ties of her pants. He moved slowly, as if he expected her to tell him to stop, but she had no intention of doing that, she had no idea what she wanted, she just needed. She bucked her hips to help him pull her pants away, finally completely bare before him.

With her head thrown back into the pillow and her eyes squeezed shut, she couldn't see the way his face, his whole body softened when she relaxed under his touch, but she felt it, in her chest, she felt that release of fear, tension, what it meant she couldn't name yet, but she knew. She allowed him a moment to run his hand back up and down her sides before catching one of his wrists,

"Az, more," she whispered, sliding his hand up her body, her skin pebbling in its wake, until it reached the swell of her breast, where he resisted, eyes widening in surprise, unsure of what to do for perhaps the first time, "Show me, show me how good it can be, Az, touch me." She demanded, a soft cry leaving her lips when he finally lifted his hand a little higher, brushing over her breast, then the other. It was as if she were tight and loose all at once, on fire and burning cold, she was burning, burning, burning under his touch, and she squealed when he dipped his head to kiss along her collarbone at the same time as rolling a nipple between his fingers. She gasped his name, a hand tangling in his hair as she held him against her, losing herself to the pleasure of his touch.

Azriel murmured her name over and over, saying it with such reverence that she would have thought it a prayer to the Mother if she hadn't known better. She demanded more, might have asked for it, might have begged, but Cauldron did he deliver. She hadn't realized, but at some point her thighs had fallen open, and he was now lying between them, touching her slowly, lazily, waking her body to him, to the pleasure his fingers wrought from every inch of her skin. At her nod, he slowly teased his way down her body, across her hips, down the outside and up the inside of her thighs, then down and back up a few more times for good measure. He looked back up at her, his eyes burning, but something else lay there, something cooler, concern, he was concerned about something. Gwyn reached up to press her palm against his cheek,

"You're sure?" He asked again,

"Yes. I want to feel like I did before, when we got home, I want that feeling again, I want you," Gwyn kept her palm pressed to his cheek, lifting his head when he turned away, and smiled at the sight of the tears starting to form in his eyes, "You don't have to hide from me either, Azzy, I love you, I want you, all of you, don't hide." The tears were still shining in his eyes as he leaned forward to kiss her again, his fingers grazing the top of her thighs, so close, and she shifted her hips to push him closer, to shift his fingers a little higher. The moment he made contact with the most sensitive part of her, she gasped, plunging her hands into his hair and tugging, hard, the way she'd done before that he'd liked. He let out a sound that might have been a moan, might have been a snarl, but he moved, brushing his fingers up, slowly carefully, watching her face for the movements that pulled sounds she hadn't realized she could make from her.

"Gwyn," he panted, kissing along her jaw, before pressing down gently on her clit, she squealed, her hips bucking into his hand, and she clung to his shoulders as if it were her lifeline, "Perfect," he murmured, "Perfect, you're just perfect," she whimpered in response, unable to form proper words,, but she knew what she wanted, she knew how to start to wipe away the stain of the past, to replace the bad memory with good ones, but she didn't know how to ask.

"Az," she whispered, and he stilled for a moment, she couldn't think of the right words, so she guided his hand down, until he was right by her entrance, "Please," she whispered, all other words failing her. Azriel didn't hesitate this time, she'd shown him what she wanted, he knew that she was sure, that she knew exactly what she was asking for, and he pressed open-mouthed kissed along her collarbone as he slipped one finger into her. A flash of fear, a heartbeat of return to the past, and then he was moving, brushing against a spot inside her that made her see stars. Pleasure, that was what this was, wonder, decadent pleasure, and she might have moaned his name, might have screamed it, might have said nothing, but she was chanting it inside her head, Azriel, Azriel, Azriel. She held his gaze, his face framed in her hands as the heat in her belly tightened, coiling tighter and tighter with each brush of his finger, then another as he pushed both into her.

"I love you," he murmured, and she shattered, all the tension exploding outwards as she broke with a scream, her vision blacking out for a moment, her mind emptying of everything, everything except him.

When she opened her eyes again, she was pressed against Azriel's side, his hand gently stroking her hair as he traced little circles on her hip. She snuggled into him, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "How are you feeling?"

"I - wonderful," she shifted slightly, and her face heated, "I can still feel you," Azriel laughed, and her face flamed again, she hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it was true. "I suppose that's a good thing,"

"It is," he kissed her temple again, and she realized that at some point, probably while she'd still been reeling from the power of that pleasure, he'd cleaned her up and put her in one of his shirts.

"What about you?"

"That's not what this was about, this was about you choosing what you wanted, we have all the time in the world, we can do everything you want and more, whenever you want," but they didn't, they didn't have all the time in the world, and Gwyn didn't notice the tears welling up in her eyes until Azriel brushed them away, "Don't cry, please don't cry, leave the future alone, we can't change the problems that will come, but we mustn't waste time worrying about them now, there is time for that later.

"I love you." Gwyn said, pressing closer to him, his warmth, his scent washing away the worries that had indeed been threatening to ruin her happiness. His heart was beating loud and strong beneath her cheek, for now everything was right, as it should be, for now she could just be. She closed her eyes, allowing that peace to fill her as she drifted into blissful unconsciousness. Just before she slipped fully into sleep, Azriel's voice filled the room,

"Thank you for trusting me." She didn't even have time to tell him that she always had, that he was the one she trusted above all else before sleep claimed her.