This chapter and the previous (Chapters Two and Three) follow the events of Amelia and The Magic Slate.


Cooper and the Temporal Nexus

Chapter Three


Cooper closed his eyes before he said it, feeling his jaw clench. He needed to be firm, to make it clear this was, in a way, an ultimatum, although he hated to even think that harsh word. Then he opened them and looked at Amelia, sitting across from him, the ring in her hand, and said, "But this choice is a final choice. Either I take you home and you stay there with your memories of me, or you stay here and make new ones with me. I cannot . . ."

He had meant to say that he could not continue with the sleepless nights, the uncertainty, the guilt. But in the last second he lost his nerve. He wanted to say, instead, 'I cannot live without you.' But he couldn't say that, either; this was Amelia's decision.

Amelia looked down at the ring, resting on her palm, and whispered, "How long do I have?"

"I cannot give you a time frame. I will not rush you again. But," Cooper stood to gather the dirty plates, "at some point I have to go back to work. Really, I should go tomorrow. And perhaps it would be better for both of us to know what our past is, so we can put it behind us."

She remained silent, staring at the ring, while he loaded the dishwasher. He felt he needed something to do with his hands, otherwise he only wanted to gather her up, kiss her beautiful face, and beg her to stay.

"If I stay, will we . . ." she whispered, and Cooper came to stand closer to her.

"Yes," he said. "I'm sorry it's not a romantic proposal, no holy palmers' kiss."

"If I go home, you'll never . . ."

"No. Never again." That had been his decision. They were either in this together or they were completely out. For all time. He couldn't stand days of joy and nights of sadness any longer. It wasn't fair to Amelia, either.

He was aware he was asking her to marry a man she barely knew. In reality, he had been asking her that when he asked her to step into his time machine. But now there was no turning back. They would be married, try to make a normal life - as normal as a life could be with a time machine in the corner of your living room - and do all the things normal married people did.

Which reminded him of the second thing he decided. He opened his mouth and blurted out this thing that had never been a secret before but suddenly felt so wrong, blushing and stumbling over his words, trying to think of a period appropriate way to explain it to Amelia. She was clearly shocked. Not just by Nicole, he thought, but by the entire idea. In spite of everything, his standing naked before Amelia, her crawling into bed with him, the topic was still mammoth between them.

As she sat, still and surprised, Cooper ran his hand along her face, to reassure her, to feel the current that always passed up his arm when he did so. He told her he thought she needed to be alone to think, which had been his plan all along; but now he wondered if that was another selfish action on his part, leaving her alone after he dropped a bombshell like that. He smiled softly as he explained his absence, leaving out the breaking the law part, and left her alone.


"I brought ski masks for everyone," Rajeev said as he got into Leo's car.

"Ski masks? We're buying some old dead lady's identity in the bad part of town, not robbing a bank," Herman pointed out.

"What do you think you're wearing?" Rajeev shot back.

"I told Bernice we were going lunar bowling," Herman grumbled.

"She doesn't dig bad boys?" Leonard asked as he drove.

"Does Penelope?" Rajeev asked.

"Oh, yeah. Except, I've been so scared just talking about it I keep having to use my inhaler and that ruins it."

A few more puns were traded around, until Leo said, "Cooper, you're awfully quiet. Nervous?"

"Please, I've travelled through time and back. A dead old lady doesn't frighten me," he said, turning away from the window.

"Sooooo?" Herman prodded.

Cooper sighed. "Fine. I asked Amelia to marry me."

"How romantic!" Rajeev cooed from the back seat. "How did you do it? One knee? Candles? What does the ring look like? I want all the details."

"I'm afraid it wasn't very romantic." Cooper swallowed. "That was a mistake, I think."

"I'm sure it was fine. Besides, she had to expect it, right, coming with you? Wasn't it sort of an implied deal?" Leo asked.

Nodding, Cooper said, "I also told her she has to make a decision. Either we get married or I take her home and we never see each other again."

"Whoa," Rajeev said.

"But we're still getting the dead lady's identity?" Herman asked. "I'm just saying some actual lunar bowling couldn't hurt my alibi."

"Herman, shut up," Leo said. "Cooper, buddy, you okay?"

"I completely botched it. I had just proposed and then I told her about Nicole. Was that in poor taste?"

"A marriage proposal and a former mistress? They go together like peanut butter and jelly!" Herman quipped.

"Wellllll," Leo said. "You had to tell her sometime, right? You were just putting all your cards on the table, so there'd be no surprises later."

"What did Nicole say when you told her?" Rajeev asked.

"Nicole?" Cooper turned around in the seat, as much as he could in the seat belt. Why did she need to be told anything?

"You are telling Nicole, right?" Herman said. "Trust me, there's enough to fight about in a marriage without you receiving a booty call text one evening."

Cooper looked at his best friend, driving slowly through an unfamiliar part of the city. "Leo? What do you think?"

"How long has it been for you and Nicole?" Leo asked after a pause.

"Two months, twenty days."

"Dry spell!" Herman said.

"Did you actually break it off already? I mean, I know it wasn't serious or anything, but did you sort of acknowledge it was the last time? If so, I'd say you're free and clear."

"Um, no." Cooper wondered if he should tell them that she'd contacted him twice in that time frame, but he was too busy with other plans. Or that one day, seven weeks ago, when he'd texted her and she was out of town.

"It's a gray area, but I think if you want to be certain that everyone's on the same page you'd better let her know," Leo said with a shrug, stopping to read a street sign. "I think this is the place."

They all turned to look at the run down house in front of them, one of the window panes broken, a piece of cardboard taped behind it. There was a faded Beware of the Dog sign hanging crookedly off the rusty chain link fence. Leo put the car in park and took out his inhaler.

"Remember, this is for true love," Rajeev said. "Amelia said yes, but they can't make it legal without this."

"Actually, she's hasn't said yes yet. I told her to think about it," Cooper corrected him.

"Wait, she hasn't actually decided to stay and we're still going into that creepy crack house to commit a crime?" Herman asked.

"Cooper?" Leo asked, taking another hit off of his inhaler.

His hand on the door knob, Cooper looked at the house for which the word shady was invented. Breaking the laws of physics, that got you a Nobel Prize. Breaking the actual law, that ruined your career and the respect of your mother. Breaking Amelia's heart, that ruined your life. Should he risk all that for her? Was he willing to gamble that she really meant it when she told him she loved him? Or was it all too late? Did he have enough faith in her, in them? Would she stay?

"Bring the ski masks," he instructed, opening his door.


He thought maybe she was asleep. He walked closer to the door, straining his ears. Then Cooper heard some faint shuffling behind Amelia's bedroom door, almost like the footsteps of her bare feet. Putting his palm against the face of it, he thought about opening it, telling her about their perilous night. No, he should let her have the peace he asked her to take. To think, hopefully to sleep. He heard a brush on the other side of the door, and he almost felt like he could feel her palm on the opposite side.

"'For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch / And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss,'" he mouthed silently.


It was done. The text messages had concerned him; he did not want Nicole thinking that was why he was contacting her even for a second. Although, of course, it was only logical that she should. But she had come from work, and Cooper told her after they had ordered that he had met someone, that it was serious. Knowing so little about woman, he was't sure how she'd respond but Nicole had actually been pleased for him. Surprisingly, they enjoyed a pleasant lunch, discussing the latest super hero movies and television shows in broad terms.

Back at work, though, he found it hard to concentrate. He knew it was necessary to leave Amelia alone to help her acclimate to her new world. Or, he thought with a frown, decide it wasn't. But she had actually slept through the night last night without any nightmares; surely that was a good sign that she was adapting and settling in? He paced his office, puttering from one location and task to the next, never settling on anything. Finally, with a sigh, he decided to leave. He would go home early and surprise her; she'd probably like that. He wondered if he should take her on a walk, she must be getting bored and stuffy in the apartment for a week.

By the time he arrived, he almost ran up the stairs, so eager to see her smile, to hear what she thought of her first movie. "Amelia! I came home early, I thought you might be bored and-" he stopped in the doorway, the keys still in his hand. She was sitting in his desk chair, back in the dress and apron that she had been wearing when they arrived, clutching her folio so hard her knuckles were white. "Amelia? Why are you dressed like that? And sitting there?"

"I've decided," she said with a coldness and a harshness that were foreign to her voice. "I want to go home. Forever."

Cooper felt like all the air left his body in a single rush and his very ribs knotted themselves up once more. He tried to swallow down the bile rising in his throat. He could barely form the words. "Are you sure? Is that your decision?"

"Yes." Still there was no life in her once-beautiful green eyes. Something had changed today while he was gone.

Trying to gather himself, he concentrated on the once simple actions of putting his keys down and shutting the door. "May I ask why?"

"Does it matter? You said it was my choice." Still no warmth in her words.

"Yes, it is, but, " he finally looked back at her, up from the key bowl, even if it meant meeting those dead eyes, "don't you think I deserve an explanation?"

There was no reply. He thought maybe, for just a nanosecond, he saw a spark of his Amelia before she looked away. Maybe he could reach her after all. It was selfish and hypocritical, he knew. He had made her choose, he had promised her he would respect her decision, that he would take her home if that's what she wanted, but he genuinely hadn't thought this would be happening to him. She had become a part of his time machine, a part of his life, a part of the ring he was going to wear no matter what, a part of his heart. No, it couldn't be happening. Not his precious Amelia. "Please?"

When she looked back sharply and told him her reason, he didn't understand. Telegrams and harlots? Had she somehow figured out how to watch some other movie on Netflix? What was she talking about?

It all came pouring, tumbling out. What she had seen, what she had assumed, the conclusions to which she had leapt. Cooper was angry, so very angry, mostly at himself, but even at Amelia. He found himself shouting, which he immediately regretted, and telling her more details about his relationship with Nicole than he should have even though they were true. He threw the Nobel Prize in her face, and it wasn't even true, what he said. The Nobel Prize was the thing he had previously thought was all he ever wanted, all he would ever need to make him happy in his life, and for a moment, he let hang in the air that Amelia was only a means to that end. It was the cruelest and most untrue thing Cooper had ever done and he knew it.

As he leaned his head against his time machine, an instrument of joy that now only brought him pain and regret, he confessed his sins. "I can't remain angry with you because it's all my fault. I should have never asked you to come, never brought you here. It's too much for you. You're right: this is all a mistake, it's all my fault. I'll take you home, and then you can forget all about it. Maybe, in time, I'll forget the guilt, too."

Realizing there was only one course of action left, hating himself for allowing this to all happen in the first place, he forced himself to say what he never wanted to say. "Please go to your room. Leave me alone. I'll take you home in the morning, after I've checked the calculations again and tried to get some sleep. I can't concentrate right now. I know you don't believe me, but I love you too much to take you back to the wrong time."

Then he whispered, saying the most painful thing of all, "Please just go."


Cooper had lied about that, too. He knew the calculations back to that moment as though they were etched indelibly upon his soul. He didn't need to check them; they were his true north, his lodestar. Everything in his life would forever be measured against them, all the days merely a sundial, his life the shadow projected by the gnomon that was Amelia running over the hill on the prairie to step into his machine.

But he did it anyway. Four times. Because he had promised her, and this, at least, was something he could do properly. He had already ruined too many other things for her. He would take her home, say good-bye with a resolve he did not feel, and he would spend the rest of his life looking for her name in all the world's history books. Because Amelia - his Amelia! - was not destined to live unknown and forgotten on the prairie forever. He knew that just as well as he knew the calculations.

He opened the skin of his machine and checked all the circuit boards, including the new one he had installed in place of his crudely repaired one. Everything was in order. The old repaired board was setting on the bookshelf, and he picked up, the unrefined line of Amelia's silver catching the light once more. Grazing it with his fingertip, Cooper put in the bag of supplies he kept under the seat in the machine. This would travel with them once more. It would probably travel with him forever. He would leave her ring out, wherever she had left it, so that she could take it home, hide it away to replace her other ring, and someday, maybe, she would allow another man to slip it on her finger, never knowing that he was wearing the other half in the future, every day for the rest of his life. He wouldn't tell her, he wouldn't put it on until he had returned without her. Illogically, he wondered if he would feel that shiver of the temporal bonds down his arm when he put it on, never to remove it. A widower to destiny.


"Cooper! Cooper, come back!"

He awoke to her strangled cries, surprised he had drifted off to sleep after lying awake for hours. Kicking his legs out from under the blankets, he ran, his chest thundering as he entered Amelia's room.

Pulling her close, pressing her cheek to his pajamas, he stroked her hair and repeated, although he didn't believe it, "It will be okay, it will be okay."

"I thought you'd left me behind," she cried.

"I thought that's what you wanted," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"I was wrong. I was wrong. I want you, Cooper, I want to stay here with you."

His heart leapt at the possibility. "Please be very sure before you say that to me. I could not bear it if you changed your mind." Pausing, he felt tears coming to his eyes, unable to hide them any longer. "It might kill me."

Amelia lifted her head up and looked at him. He saw her beautiful green eyes again, just as soft and as earnest as they had been that first day on the prairie. "I mean it. I've never meant anything more. I'm so sorry. I was being rash and foolhardy. I do believe you. You have every right to be angry with me, I didn't understand what I was seeing and I just assumed the worst of you. I want to stay here, with you. Forever. If you'll still have me. Please don't leave me behind. I don't even care if you need me for your Nobel Prize."

"Oh, Amelia," Cooper barely choked out, the tears no longer staying in his eyes. He welcomed them as they fell. "Don't you understand? You are the only prize I'll ever need."

Then he lifted the edges of the blankets and crawled in next to her, gathering her in his arms. They talked and talked, all of those important topics they had found the words for in the past but had been leaving out here in the present, more worried about history lessons and mundane life. They talked about their pasts, they shared their hopes and dreams of a life together, they admitted what worried them the most. Through it all, Cooper squeezed Amelia even tighter than he had that night in the log cabin, holding on to her, never letting her go.


"Sacred?" Cooper raised his eyebrows. He had thought, in the middle of the night, that they would get up and go down to city hall and sign a marriage license. That was the plan, and he found that once the decision had been made he wanted to complete it as soon as possible.

"Yes, don't you think it should be sacred? It's the most important day of our lives, the most solemn thing we will ever do." She was sitting up next to him in bed, her legs tucked under her, holding his hand on her lap.

Cooper smiled at the fierceness in her voice. And, he realized, she was correct. "Okay, sacred it is. A sacred place. But it doesn't have to be a church? Or a minister? Leo got ordained on the Internet for our friend Herman's wedding."

Amelia tilted her head and then said, "No, it doesn't have to a be a church. And Leo is fine. Is there somewhere that is sacred to you?"

Somewhere scared? Not being a religious man, he tried to think of a moment in time in which faith alone had led him to take some life altering act. He smiled slightly. "I have some ideas. I'll need a few days to work out the details. You don't mind waiting?"

She smiled and lay back down next to him, never letting go of his hand. "We've waited 140 years already."


"Rajeev, as an astrophysicist, do you know how to work a planetarium?" he asked over lunch at work the next day.

"Sure," his friend shrugged.

"Do you think you could program a particular date from a particular location in less than, say, ten minutes?"

"Absolutely."

"What's up, Coop?" Herman asked. "I think we've all learned to ask more questions with you."

Cooper put his hand up to silence him. "These are the most important questions: Do you have privileges at Griffith Observatory? And how quickly could you reserve a time?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Leo asked.

"I haven't used it before, but with my Caltech credentials it shouldn't be too hard. I'll have to call," Rajeev said. "And, yes, what are you up to? What's with all the questions?"

"Because, gentleman, now that we've embarked upon a life of crime, we're going to illegally hijack the Griffith Observatory for a wedding." He let go of the satisfied smile he had been holding in. "Circa 1886."


It was the perhaps the most awkward conversation Cooper had ever had - which, considering the number he was having lately, was quite a statement - and he found his words stilted, vague, euphemistic at best. Completely unsure of how Amelia would respond to this idea, this medical advancement that would allow her to find her own life before she gave life to any children. But she'd been receptive and intrigued, if, Cooper could tell, still confused on the specifics.

After she'd ensconced herself for her nightly bath, Cooper took a deep breath, grabbed a couple of items, and crossed the hallway.

"Cooper!" Penelope opened the door.

"Um, is Leo home?" Cooper licked his lips.

"No, sorry, he went to pick up dinner. Should I tell him to come over later?"

"Actually, I came to see you." He reached in his pocket and handed her his credit card for a second time. "Whatever she wants. And I have another favor to ask you."

Grabbing the card, Penelope asked, "What, taking Miss Innocent shopping tomorrow isn't enough? It's a good thing I like her. And that I can never resist spending someone else's money."

Sighing, Cooper reached into his pocket and held out the second item.

"A banana?" Penelope's eyebrows scrunched. "What is this for?"

"This." Cooper handed her the third item.

"Jesus, Cooper!" The wide eyes again. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Demonstrate how, um -" he coughed "- it's used."

"Are you serious? You want to me teach her about sex?"

"No, not entirely," Cooper said quickly. "I'm certain she understands -" - flashes of the sounds of her in the bath in the cabin - "- the general mechanics. I mean, she grew up on a farm. Barn cats and all that. And I've already introduced the idea of the condom and birth control in general. But, you know." He ended in a shrug.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless, you know that?" Cooper nodded in agreement. "You're sure she knows the general idea?"

"Yes," Cooper said horsely, remembering the feel of her crawling into bed next to him, thinking of how accustomed she had become to their kisses of ever increasing passion in the past few days. "Please? And please don't ever tell me about it, what you say. I would like to pretend we never had this conversation."

"That makes two of us." Then, waving the banana, Penelope said, "Your secret mission is safe with me."


He didn't know what to expect. Having involved Penelope, he imagined some sort of froufrou cupcake dress. He silently prayed no employee would stop Amelia and ask her what she was doing there in a wedding dress.

Strangely nervous, he clutched the bouquet even tighter, waiting for her to arrive. Timing was tight. They were almost late for their appointment because, at the last minute, he remembered the flowers. Every bride needed and wanted flowers, right? But they were all wrong, hot house roses and calla lilies. Nothing free enough for Amelia's spirit, he thought. Then he spied the collection of wildflowers, and barely had time to get them tied with a white ribbon before Leo had honked the horn impatiently. They waited outside in the car until Rajeev texted that he had secured the planetarium. Quickly and furtively they entered the museum, diving between large exhibits to avoid explaining why they were all wearing suits and carrying a bouquet of flowers to do research. And what was taking Rajeev so long? The sky above was still a dim, blank white.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Amelia was there, Penelope holding her arm. It wasn't a white confection after all, it was . . . perfect. She looked luminous, beautiful, the pale lavender setting off her green eyes. He had been afraid that Penelope would do something over the top to her hair and paint her face into an unrecognizable visage. But, no, it was his Amelia and her braids walking toward him, falling into the bridal march even without music.

"Hello," she said when she finally reached him in the center of the room, "you look handsome."

He grinned at her with abandonment. "You are beautiful. Here, these are for you." He held out the flowers, regretting she didn't have them for her walk up the aisle. "You seem like a wildflower kind of girl."

Amelia took them and nodded, looking down to touch the flowers gently. They matched her dress perfectly.

When she didn't reply, Cooper felt the need to explain, "Technically, you can't rent the planetarium for personal events. We used our Caltech credentials to get a half-hour of time. We may have misled them on some details."

"What's a planetarium?" Amelia asked, looking back up and smiling, not surprised or concerned at all, it seemed, about his existence as a rogue and outlaw.

"This." Cooper waved his arms and prayed that Rajeev wouldn't let him down now. Suddenly, the ceiling darkened and exploded with bright, white stars. So many stars, thousands of them.

"Oh!" Amelia cried out, and Cooper was pleased with the theatrics of it all, even if it had not been his original plan. It was actually better this way. Just as crash landing and finding Amelia had been for the best.

Amelia shook her head, tilting it back to look up.

"It's the early morning sky over Independence, Kansas on November 3, 1886. You said we should be married somewhere sacred," Cooper said, hearing the weight and emotion in his own voice.

Amelia started to cry in earnest now, and he had to bat away his own tears. "The morning we met," she whispered.

Cooper nodded and put his hand out for hers. When their palms met, he felt the shifts of time, the holy palmers kiss. He took that feeling as a sign that they were both ready now, ready to continue their adventure. They turned to face Leo and vowed that their love was an ever-fixed mark in time, never altering, never wavering.

And then he slid the silver ring on Amelia's finger and she slid it on his. He still had not told her; for some reason he could not explain he wanted this to remain his secret, at least for now. She had been wrong two weeks ago in the cabin. These rings were not mere objects, they held incredible power. They were binding them together in time, to each other, for infinity.


For the second time in one day, he was incredibly nervous. More so. Marrying Amelia, saying aloud what his heart already knew, that he would love and stay with her forever, that was easy. Teaching her the ways of physical love, that was terrifying. Goodness knew what notions Penelope had filled her head with. And why on Earth had he ever told her it was whimsically inventive? He wasn't sure he was good enough for that!

Cooper understood the weight upon his shoulders. Now he was the experienced one, and Amelia trusted him implicitly. He wanted it to be perfect for her, to make her feel as beautiful and as amazing as she was. She was so very young, so naive, so inexperienced even with kissing. He had felt her initial confusion and resistance to his kiss in her bed that morning she agreed to stay. But she was eager, too, he thought. The way she had kissed him just now, after she opened her gift, was no longer hesitant. Nevertheless, as he unzipped her dress, he had given her an opportunity to delay. He would wait for her. But she had not taken it.

Pacing in the living room, he waited even long after he heard silence from the bedroom. He took off his jacket and tie, unbuttoning the top button of his dress shirt. Maybe if he looked more casual, like Dean Martin . . . He shook his head at the ridiculous notion before taking a deep breath and walking to the door.

"Amelia?" he knocked.

"Come in," she called. He opened the door and smiled at her, looking so small in his bed, the blankets pulled up almost to her chin. But her arms were bare, and he wondered what she was wearing underneath there.

Unsure what to say, he went to the closet and started to undress, feeling clumsy and conspicuous, not at all the suave image he wanted to portray to her tonight. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her look away quickly.

"You can watch," he said softly, almost pointing out she had seen it all before. Well not all of it. As he lifted his undershirt over his head, he allowed a little smile behind it. Amelia had turned back to watch him again. That was good sign, surely? One deep breath, and he quickly stepped out of his Underoos and turned toward her before he lost his nerve.

Gasping, Amelia squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe that was too shocking. Which made him feel oddly satisfied with his body. Lifting up the blankets, sliding in next to her, now he said it. "You've seen it before."

Amelia opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling. "But it didn't look like that."

He chuckled softly at the memory, proud and still surprised at the control he'd had over his body at that moment. "Miraculously."

When she didn't answer, the buoyancy of his reply evaporated. No, that wasn't a suave thing to say at all. He reached up to brush her face, gently turning it toward him. He looked at her with concern. "I thought you knew. I didn't think it would be a surprise to you. When you were in the bath, you certainly seemed to understand. And when you got in bed with me, I thought . . ."

She gave a weak smile but her cheeks flushed a bright red. "I do know. I know what's going to happen. I just - I think I was pretending to be brave when I got in bed. I thought that you wanted that. That if you had that you wouldn't get in your time machine."

"Oh, Amelia." The words plucked at him, a tiny sliver of guilt still there despite the new ring on his finger. His lips brushed against hers, the barest hint of a kiss. "Do you understand now? That's exactly why I couldn't?"

"Yes," Amelia whispered.

"But you're right," Cooper answered, gently kissing her cheek, then her temple. For a second, he thought about postponing the evening's activities. But, no, he remembered her kiss and nod in the living room. "I did want you. Almost as much as I want you right now." His kissed her earlobe, and then, before he thought too much about it, he swirled his tongue around this potent erroneous zone. The first of many to which he planned to introduce her.

"Hoooot," she breathed out as her back arched. He smiled even as his kept it up. The same sound she had given that night she dried him off, the sound of sex, the sound of desire. Wanting to only please her further, he slowly slipped his hand down her neck, creeping under the blankets, stopping on her décolletage when he realized she was shaking beneath him.

"You're trembling."

After a pause, she turned to look at him. "I want you, too. Then. And now. I'm just - it's overwhelming."

His heart bursting, Cooper wanted her to know how much he loved her, how he wanted her to embrace this experience just as much as she readily embraced everything else. He wanted her to know that he only wanted to make her happy, to show her physically all the love he carried in his heart and body for her. "Amelia," he whispered softly, his lips barely grazing hers once more, "please don't be frightened. I love you, and I only want to make you feel good. Let yourself be overwhelmed. I want you to think of the place you love the most on Earth, a place where time feels meaningless. I want to you shut your eyes and think of that place. And then I want to take you there. Just me, just us, no time machine. I want to be there with you. Will you let me take you there?"

After studying him seriously for a moment, Amelia nodded and closed her eyes. There was a soft exhale and a sweet, gentle smile as he leaned down to trace every edge and plane of her face with his lips. He was determined to worship her slowly.

Later, as he watched her climax for the first time beneath his touch, her body shuddering and flushing, he smiled deeply and, for just a brief moment, he thought he felt a gentle spring breeze tickle their bodies and the sound of birds and the smell of fresh prairie grass, and he knew that time held no constraints for them.


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