Warmth

Disclaimer be in Part I

NOTE: This section flips perspectives in an almost poetic format. One character's POV will be in bold, the other's in italic; plain text denotes shared point of view. Who is who? You have a brain, you figure it out. I don't have to tell you everything. And it should be pretty obvious too...

Part III

Warmth

Through my numbness it is hard to respond to the kiss, but as it deepens, I find myself able to move... just enough that I can keep it, just enough that

yes

I can feel it

I can feel

I'm prepared to pull away, but you reach up and touch my shoulder. As the touch becomes a grip, I realize that your cold body is beginning to respond to me, curling against me; your hands firmly locked in my hair

I can feel the thick coarse strands of earth-brown tangled between my fingers, can feel the sensation of your solid body moving against mine

your left arm supporting my weight, your right tracing down to my knees, held together against the cold

no longer in control of myself, but I can realize that you no longer seem quite so cold

no longer ice

I can feel your

warmth

wanting

I'm not frozen anymore

I can see the sharp lines of your face, the scars, the thick ragged bangs falling into your eyes, cerulean misted with longing and something else

I can see

your eyes clarifying, examining the length of my face, the tears overflowing

the tiny smile that plays across your features

that you want this

your embrace is tender and your eyes are sincere

I know now that what I thought was hatred

never really was

just masked by the confusion

emotion

surging through my body, seeing the gratitude in your eyes... so relieved that you never blamed me when my loss of memory drove me to what I've done

the moment is coming when we will no longer be

until then we will have to be

so why shouldn't we be

why shouldn't we express this

the moment is now

feeling warmth flow into my body as we curl together, every part of my body tingling with renewed sensation, finer than ever before. Could I have sensed the slightest shift of your body before? This is new, this is greater than what I imagined; there is pain, but even that, I embrace, knowing that any feeling is better than none at all.

I can feel

I can feel again

I can sense your gentle movements within me, the movements that granted my thoughtless plea. Even as my life ebbs away from me, you keep me within the bounds of mortality, within the realm of feeling

self-consciousness is a thing of the past now. Having crossed all boundaries, we may as well be one creature, and in a way are now. In a far-off way I sense that neither of us have much longer in this place, but that matters nothing to either of us

you know, I've never done this before

does it matter?

it feels right anyway

the love was already here

unrealized

or was there just no time to bring it into the open?

we did not create it in this

this is expression

this is

warmth

blessed warmth, coming to one who could not feel

warmth that makes the tears flow, tears of apology for everything, everything

stop crying, I want to say, but this is your truth and it must be accepted

your soft moan ripples through my being as I pull closer to you/deeper within you

I no longer have the words but I want to thank you for doing the right thing then

and granting me this one

last

pleasure

of

warmth