Title: Daylight
Summary: Early morning glimpse.
Note: Post-moved in, Pre-married. Just a little minific to go with an edit for the appreciation event.
He felt the bed dip suddenly, but couldn't manage to open his eyes. He took in a deep breath and curled around the comforter.
"Sorry, go back to sleep," he heard Emma mumble.
He could feel the daylight streaming through the curtains, so he knew it was later than he usually slept in. He sifted through the exhaustion and grudgingly came back to consciousness. He rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes. "Everything okay?" he managed, sleep slurring his words.
She sighed, and he finally opened an eye to find her beside him. She was fully clothed, down to her boots and leather jacket. "Just … long night."
"Morning, now," he reminded. He tossed an arm around her waist, tugging her in.
She smiled and dipped her head onto his chest. "Didn't mean to wake you."
He chuckled. "Yeah, well. It's too late in the day for me to be asleep, anyway."
"It is past dawn," she teased, and then kissed his collarbone lazily.
He bobbed his head. He was usually the first to rise in the mornings, and rarely lazed about unless it was to keep her in his company. This was well outside his norm, though it made sense for how long he'd been up. "Stayed late last night, and then got some paperwork done when I got back."
She tilted her chin to look up at him. "How late?" she asked warily.
He raised a brow. "You're going to lecture me about staying out?"
She smiled and buried her head again. "I made some progress," she reasoned.
"But you didn't catch him, then," he supplied, filling in the blank in her words.
She grimaced and held him closer. "Not yet," she replied.
Joseph Marlow. Small time. Petty criminal with ties to a bigger conglomerate, he'd fled parole at the first chance. Emma had been close for the past week, but he was weaselier than expected. It made sense, then, why she wasn't relaxing straight to sleep and instead engaging him in this restless conversation. He tugged his fingers through her hair. "Another day," he said.
She nodded. "Another day," she echoed. "At least this one wasn't completely wasted."
He frowned slightly, feeling the heaviness in her tone. Her makeup was smeary under her eyes and her long hair was straightening from its curls. He bit down a follow-up question, knowing how much she needed her sleep. He tugged on the hem of the leather. "Are you going to get comfortable?"
She shook her head. "Too tired," she pouted. "Will you get Henry when he's ready?"
He sat up and reached down to her feet to begin unlacing the boots. "Of course," he replied. He'd been glued to his phone half the night, anyway, worried at the first time Henry'd had a sleepover since he'd moved in. It was half the reason he'd made excuses to work on the files he'd brought home with him.
She sighed when he removed her shoes and bunched her legs in to curl into a ball. "Thank you," she mumbled, half asleep already.
He checked his phone again, finding it to be just after 7. There would likely be no messages from Henry until well past 9. "These can't be comfortable," he observed, tugging on the denim.
"Not 'specially," she breathed.
He smirked and unbuttoned her jeans, then rubbed along the mark the metal made on her skin. "Better?"
She nodded and lifted her hips to barely assist him.
He tossed them aside and then slipped her jacket off next. After he placed it on the chair by the window, he curled around her, hugging her in and breathing deep. "Couple more hours. I'll get the kid and you can sleep."
"'Kay," she said, nuzzling her nose into his neck.
He tangled a hand in her hair and relaxed into the pillow. "I'll try not to wake you later," he promised.
"I know," she replied.
She was typically a heavy sleeper, so he wasn't too concerned about it. Sleeping during the day with no Henry in the house, though, might change things. But fairly quickly, she began to lightly snore, fingers still gripping his t-shirt just over his heart. He smiled softly, looking down at her peaceful face and let himself into a more restful state.
He could break his routine for this.