Elena placed her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and her head rose with the steady rhythm of his breathing.

"I love you," she told him.

He ran his fingers through the golden hair that was fanned out on his chest. "Don't ever stop," he replied.

She laughed lightly and the vibrations of her laughter felt nice against his bare chest. "I won't."

"Elena....

"Hm?" One hand was resting on a pillow beneath his head, the other against the right hand side of his face, the fingers of that hand in his hair.

He paused, taking a breath. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Elena was puzzled, her eyebrows drawing together, creating a crease in her forehead.

"For ever hurting you and treating you bad back in Fells Church...and here, as well."

"Shh...." she placed a finger over his lips. "That's in the past."

"I know I can be an arrogant bastard."

"I can learn to live with it."

He smiled in the dark. "Good."

"Forever," she whispered, kissing his neck softly, "begins tonight."

They lay like that, as the breeze drifted through the curtains, his arms securely around her, and the fingertips of one hand running along the smooth skin of back.

She closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, as she relaxed into his embrace.

She'd found what she needed. The flame inside burned brighter now.

And they were together at last.


FIN.