My first thought the next morning is that I've awoken next to a space heater. My face is smushed into the crook of his arm, the right side of my body literally thrown over his, my leg bent at an angle over his waist. One of his arms is still around me and he is reading a book in the other. "Did you sleep well?" I mumble into his skin. I take advantage of the position by running my lips against his side as I roll over onto my back, detangling myself from him as I stretch my limbs.

"Surprisingly," he says without looking at me. I sit up and stretch my neck from left to right.

"I didn't wake you up at all?" The tension in my voice is palpable.

"No?" he asks, glancing up at me.

"Good." I roll over onto his chest and kiss him lightly, rubbing my nose against his affectionately. I settle back into the crook of his arms and close my eyes, snuggling up to him again.

"Did you think you would?" he asks.

"No, I just want to make sure I'm not annoying you," I say, but it immediately feels wrong. It seems too forced and less natural. If this is going to work, I can't be walking on glass shards around him, trying to constantly appease him at every turn. We have to fit together naturally, or else we're both going to be more miserable than we already are. "Okay, sorry, I just meant that sometimes I am loud in my sleep, or so I'm told."

"Loud?" he muses, seemingly satisfied by my answer.

"Yeah, I have really vivid dreams sometimes," I say more to myself than him.

"Mm."

"I had a dream about you once, in the library." I close my eyes as I remember the dream vividly, smiling to myself, snuggling up further against him. He tenses slightly, but I pretend not to notice as I replay the dream in my head.

"Tori?"

"Mm?

"I know."

"Know what?"

He sighs and sets his book aside. "Your dream. I saw it."

"You-" I twist and crane my neck so that I can look up at him. "You saw my dream? You saw that dream?" Heat rises to my cheeks. "How much did you see?"

"A good part of it," he says slowly, but I can hear from his tone that he saw enough. I make a noise and bury my head under the blankets, trying to process this new development. "I must apologize. It was inappropriate to go into your dream. I simply wondered if there was any pertinent information in your dream related to your memory loss, and-"

"It's fine," I say quickly, laying my head back down against his chest. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

"Tori, it's not fine," he says. "I violated your privacy-"

"Like that hasn't been done already?" I sigh. "Look, I don't expect you to know how I feel, but I wouldn't want you to. I'm not mad that you saw my dream. I understand why you did it. It wasn't just to protect me, I know you were curious too, and I don't blame you for that. If the situation was the other way around, I probably would have peeked too." I finally look over at him. "And, maybe it's not that bad you saw it, anyway. So you know where my comfort level is."

"Tori, I don't think either of us is-"

"I know, I know," I say quickly. "It was just a dream."

We stay quiet for a few minutes. It's too much for me to bear right now. I feel like so much as his been taken from me these past months, my memories, my private thoughts, my dreams, myself, and I just don't know how to handle it. The air is suddenly tense between us, and I want nothing more than to make that go away. "Please just kiss me now," I say, and all of a sudden he rolls over on top of me, his lips pressed against mine.

I gasp, and he takes full advantage, exploring my mouth with his tongue. I can feel his weight on top of mine, pushing me deeper into the bed, as one of his hands strokes my cheek and down my neck. The other hand reaches up and under my nightgown and grasps onto my waist firmly, stroking my sides with fingers as I buck my hips up into his. I reach both arms up around his neck and kiss him back with everything I have, running my hands through his hair, along his shoulders, down his back, before wrapping them around his neck again.

I can't help but suppress a moan and a shudder runs through me as he gently tugs onto my earlobe with his teeth, placing a trail of fervent kisses down my neck. I roll my head back to give his better access, running my fingertips along his sides, rhythmically bucking my hips in pleasure. His lips return to mine and he kisses me again, slowly, gently, sweetly. "Tori-" His pace is slower now and I'm worried it's going to stop so I hook my legs around his and flip him over, pressing my chest into his as I kiss him, cupping my hands on either side of his face.

He gasps in surprise and wraps both arms around me as I kiss him, running his hands along my back. I can feel him stiffen, I can feel him wanting me, as I reach up and brush the hair out of his face, continuing to kiss him passionately. Suddenly he sits up quickly and grabs both my legs and pushes them out past him so that I am straddling him. I wrap both my arms around his neck again, kissing him, and I can feel him squeezing me so tightly that it almost hurts. One of his hands runs through my hair before he grabs the back of my neck and holds me steady while I brush past his lips down his cheek and down the side of his neck, kissing the tender spot between his neck and his jaw.

I kiss his lips again and he kisses me back, but I can tell that he's beginning to slow now, and I don't force him. "Tori," he whispers against my lips. "Maybe we should stop now."

"Maybe," I whisper back, letting his lips brush against mine. We're both panting and anxious with need, so I just hold him tighter to express how badly I want him. I hear a low groan in his throat as he kisses me again, holding me tightly to him. I try to think about what he went through this year without me. I remember how he confronted me in the classroom when I didn't meet him on that first Saturday before classes started. He was hurt. And then every day after that, watching me, protecting me, without being able to tell me what was going on or how he felt. I remembered how passionately he had kissed me that day in the detention room, releasing months of pent-up frustration. Would I have been able to do it? If he had forgotten me instead, would I have just been able to sit back and watch as he got close to another girl? No, I don't think I could.

Overcome with my thoughts, I start to kiss him with fervent, hungry kisses, a low growl escaping somewhere in the back of my throat. He suddenly sits up straighter and I fall backwards and he pushes his full weight on top of me as I kiss him back, our kisses sloppy and passionate, tempered only by our frantic gasps for air. I wrap my legs around his middle and buck my hips into him, and he stops kissing me and buries his face in my neck as a loud moan escapes him.

"I can't," he says, still trying to catch his breath. "Tori, I can't. If we keep going, I'm going to-"

"It's okay," I lean over and kiss him gently, moving back under the covers and wrapping my arms around his chest. He puts his hand on my head, running it through my hair and we lay like that for a while, listening to the sound of each other's breathing.

"Was that okay?" he asks after a while, and I can't help but laugh.

"More than okay." I lean down and kiss his exposed chest and he jerks his head up with a laugh.

"Don't," he warns gently. "Too sensitive." For some reason I catch a look at his face right as he's laughing, smiling, and he looks so boyish, so much younger, so much happier than I have ever seen him before. He looks back at me with a spark in his eyes, one eyebrow raised.

"You look insanely happy right now," I say quietly, almost unable to believe it myself. He presses his lips shut and darts his eyes away. "No, please, don't stop on my account."

"Can you keep it a secret?"

"Hm?"

He lays his head back down on the pillow. "Can you keep it a secret? If word gets out that I'm not an entirely miserable, loathsome person, I'll never be taken seriously again."

"I think I can keep my mouth shut," I say, letting my voice drip with a seductive edge. "You know, for the right price."

He sits up on his elbows and looks at me. "Are you threatening extortion, Mrs. Grabiner?"

Hearing him call me Mrs. Grabiner is seriously more than I can take and I throw myself at him, kissing him, hurling my arms around his neck. He kisses me back and rolls me over on my side, kissing my lips, kissing my face. Eventually he pulls away and rests his forehead against mine. "What are you doing to me?"

"Nothing I don't think you want me to," I breathe back. "Although I must say, I'm surprised at how immediate of an effect it's having on you."

"I think I've been waiting to do that for the past seven months," he admits.

I can feel myself starting to sober up as I lay my hand against his chest. "I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you."

He strokes my cheek with the back of his hand. "And I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you," he echoes.

"I'll get over it eventually," I shrug, looking up at him. He really does look not much older than me, with a spark in his eyes and a smile playing on his lips. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but you're not going to be able to go to class like this. You look just too happy."

He pushes his face into mine and smushes my lips against his, causing me to draw back in laughter. It was almost scary how fast the change had taken over him, it's like the walls around him had slipped and toppled each other over, leaving only Hieronymous in their place. "What day is it?"

"Uh, Sunday," he says, and I nod to myself.

Okay, Sunday. Which meant yesterday was Saturday, which explained why he hadn't been at class at all. I had missed so many days this semester due to being unconscious, it was hard to keep track. "How long have I been out for, exactly?"

"A few days," he replies. "Potsdam said you didn't have to go to class this week if you didn't want to. Between you and me, I'm pretty sure she's not going to make you take the final either, considering I was present watching you use your magic against Damien. Why put you through a simulation when you survived the real thing?"

"I tried to snap his neck." I look up at him sheepishly.

"Yes, and you failed miserably," he teases me light-heartedly.

"We need to have a class on that," I say. "How to snap someone's neck in case someone is trying to kill you and your husband."

"You were very brave," he says, his voice lowering a little. "But you were incredibly stupid."

"I thought teleporting around the room was smart," I offer.

"That was," he admits. "But you shouldn't have put yourself in that kind of danger at all."

"In all fairness, I thought Ellen needed to see me about something," I shrug. "But I reached out to you, in case it was something else. I didn't want you to worry."

He smiles softly at me. "It was still very stupid."

"As stupid as jumping out a window?" I ask, and he just shakes his head.

"I didn't know what were you were doing," he sighs, rubbing his eyebrow with one hand. "Yes, it got me to listen, but please never, never do that again."

"But it got you to listen," I tease. "But no, Hieronymous, I think we both have had enough danger for a lifetime. At least I have, and I know you have. I don't want any more suffering or tears or sadness or uncertainty or fears or doubts or anything negative for the rest of my lifetime. I just want you, and me, and this bed, and cuddling, and kisses, forever and ever."

Honestly, I don't even care how childish it sounds. These past few months were probably the worst of my life, and if lying in bed with him all day was enough to make me forget it, then so be it. I bury my face in his chest and wrap my arms around him as he puts his hand comfortingly on the back of my head, smoothing down my hair. After a moment, the sound of my stomach growling breaks the silence.

"And maybe breakfast."